Finding an interesting article for every week in 1914 has been challenging at times, and led to some friendly competition between myself and Bill Scott who was doing the same thing for his PotPourri page in the Daily Herald Tribune. It has been surprising at times to discover that some things weren’t all that different then. While life was difficult in many ways, the people seemed to have a great capacity to work hard and to play hard. I think that was what I came to admire the most.
There was a large variety of social activities, regardless of the season. Some of the winter journeys these people undertook to get to a hockey game, curling, or Christmas party were amazing, and pretty hard for us today to wrap our heads around! Even when reading about the baseball games I though of fellows who had probably been up since dawn working on the homestead, then showing up in the evening to play ball.
The other thing that struck me was the number of businesses in the new town. Many came and went, and changed hands often, but there was a core of businesses that served most needs and many wants of the people 100 years ago. The last newspaper item for 1914 is mostly a Do It Yourself Project. In the Signal Newspapers of December 31, 1914 and January 7, 1915 there is a very long write-up where it appears Editor Wilson went up and down the streets with a notepad and made reference to every building. It is too long to reproduce here, but I have added one page as a sample of the interesting and personal details he includes. If it is something you would like to read in its entirety, go to the Grande Prairie Newspaper Collection found at “Our Future, Our Past: The Alberta Heritage Digitization Project” website. Click on “Grande Prairie Photographs”, and on the next screen, click on “Grande Prairie Newspaper Collection.”
This is the last of the 1914 Blog Posts, but “This Week in History” will continue.
Happy New Year, Kathryn Auger
