C.O. Card House

Cardston

Street Address:	337 Main Street
Community:	Cardston
Boundaries:	Lot 12, Block 16, Plan 7811234
Contributing Resources:	Building: 1

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
4	25	3	9	9 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel
7811234	16	12

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
49.198066	-113.302235	GPS	NAD 83

UTM Reference:

Northing	Easting	Zone	CDT	Datum Type

Recognition

Recognition Authority:	Province of Alberta
Designation Status:	Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:	1978/01/18

Historical Information

Built:	1887 to 1887
Period of Significance:	N/A
Theme(s):	Building Social and Community Life : Community Organizations Peopling the Land : Settlement
Historic Function(s):	Residence : Single Dwelling
Current Function(s):
Architect:
Builder:
Context:	HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE The C. O. Card House was built in 1887 by Charles Ora Card, founder of the Town of Cardston. It was the second of eleven log homes built in the new settlement of Cardston during the late summer and fall of 1887 (the first home being built by the combined efforts of all the men of the community for the Thomas R. Leavitt family, Mrs. Leavitt being ill). No date of original occupancy seems available, however, the residence was moved into sometime between August 12 and September 29, 1887. Charles Ora Card had originally come to the area in the fall of 1886 on assignment of John Taylor, then President of the Mormon Church in Utah. Card was assigned to look for a place of refuge to establish a community where members of his faith could avoid arrest for the practice of polygamy. He was also looking for a place where inexpensive land could be acquired to farm and irrigate as had been done in Utah. Of the assignment Card wrote that he 'was appointed by Pres. John Taylor to explore British Columbia with a view to founding a settlement of the Saints, as a place of refuge for certain families who were driven into exile under the Edmunds law.' While he first visited the Okanagan area of B.C., he found little land suitable for this settlement. Either the land was 'not much good for farming' 'because of no irrigation possibilities' or 'was already taken up in large tracts.' Card was therefore influenced by an encounter to consider a settlement east of the Rockies. He had been told the land around Calgary was sparsely settled, and the soil very rich and fairly well watered. He thus traveled onward to Calgary, and then south where he eventually selected a site for the settlement between the junction of Lee's Creek and the St. Mary's River. The next spring, Card led an advance party back to Southern Alberta (via Helena, Montana), where on the easterly edge of Lee's Creek the group established the colony later to be named Cardston. The main body of the pioneers arrived at the site on June 3, 1887, and by the fall of 1887 roughly 50 individuals populated this new Alberta Town. Later the Towns of Hillspring, Glenwood, Magrath, Raymond, Stirling, Taber and other communities would contribute to a growing Mormon population which today in Alberta exceeds some 50,000 individuals (age 8 and over). From its beginning in Cardston, Alberta's Mormon communities and population would contribute in major proportions to the development of agriculture, irrigation and to southern Alberta industry, commerce and transportation. Politics would be impacted, and the institutions of the Province would forever be influenced by the builder of this little Cardston home, and his Mormon pioneer community.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0195
Designation File:	DES 0284
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 32327
Website Link:
Data Source:	Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 284)