Businesses & Services: 1911 – 1944
The Carruthers Caveat prohibited businesses in the area of Glenora, west of Groat Ravine. As a result, businesses and services developed on the periphery of the neighbourhood, particularly along 124th Street, then known as Edwards Street. To access a greater variety of goods than offered by local businesses, Glenora residents could shop downtown at James Ramsey’s Department Store in the newly built Tegler Building. Mr. Ramsey, a well known Glenora resident, offered high quality, sophisticated goods he sourced on his extensive travels. Early businesses providing services to Glenora residents included Milton McCray’s garage to repair and store vehicles, Giles Meat Market, and the Glenora Service Station. Milk, ice, bread, and coal were delivered to homes by horse and wagon. Fresh vegetables were grown and delivered by Chinese gardeners who had gardens below and east of Government House.
1911
Courtesy: Provincial Archives of Alberta B4399
Giles Meat Market opens on Stony Plain Road at 126th Street. The building is the site of many businesses over the years before being demolished in 2020.
1912
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary NA-1328-64663
Display in window of James Ramsey Department Store, Edmonton, Alberta owned by Glenora resident James Ramsey offering quality merchandise from around the world, c. 1914.
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary NC-6-2388
Ramsey’s Department store display, c. 1916
1912
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary NC-6-13951d
Buena Vista Building is constructed at 124th Street and 102nd Avenue. A grocery, meat shop and drugstore are on the ground floor with apartments on the upper 2 storeys. The Merchant’s Bank is next door. The photograph shows the Buena Vista Building on the right with the Patricia Confectionary, Imperial Oil Service Station and Safeway (in background) on the west side of 124th Street, looking north, c. 1939
1915
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary NA-1328-66598
Dairy delivery wagon.
McCray’s Garage on 102nd Avenue and 126th Street.
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary NC-6-10858
Parking Garage interior, c. 1920s.
1919
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary NC-6-4796
By 1919, streetcar service extends along 102nd Avenue to 139th Street. In the winter of 1919, the streetcar crashes through the railing of the wooden bridge at 131 Street and lands in the Ramsay Ravine.
1920
Courtesy: City of Edmonton Archives EA-10-1061
Streetscape looking east on 102nd Avenue from the new iron bridge over Groat Ravine. McCray’s Garage on left, Robertson Presbyterian Church and Buena Vista Building in distance.
1923
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-1963
Natural Gas service arrives in Edmonton to replace coal.
1928
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-4300
Glenora Service Station on the corner of 102nd Avenue and 124th Street, the present day Esso station site.
1928
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-4229b
Bread delivery daily to Glenora homes.
1932
Courtesy: Provincial Archives of Alberta Bl 218/1
A new bridge is constructed over the Ramsay Ravine on 102nd Avenue. The bridge, a ‘make work’ project during the Great Depression, is now on the City of Edmonton Historic Resources Inventory.
1934
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-6808a
Looking east from Churchill Crescent at the newly constructed Wellington Bridge and towards Wellington Crescent on the right.
1941
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-8849c
Lee’s Drug Store in the Lowe Block on the corner of 124th Street and Stony Plain Road.
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-8849a
Lee’s Drug Store Soda Fountain
1944
Courtesy: Glenbow Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Calgary ND-3-9697i
The Corner Drugstore in the Buena Vista Building, at 124th Street and 102nd Avenue.