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Melsness Mercantile Building
Valhalla Centre
Other Names:
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Melsness Mercantile Store
Post Office/North & Brown Store
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Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Melsness Mercantile Building is a one-storey, painted wood frame commercial structure designed with a false front boomtown facade. Originally built in 1923, it occupies one lot on the main street of Valhalla Centre (now Highway 59) in the Grande Prairie region.
Heritage Value
The Melsness Mercantile Building is significant for its role in the Lutheran Norwegian community around Valhalla, as the only general store and post office in the hamlet of Valhalla Centre for more than half a century. The building is also directly associated with one of the area's first homesteaders and community leaders, Ole Melsness. It is a good example of rural commercial architecture from pre-World War One Alberta.
The building housed commercial space in the front and residential space for the Melsness family in the back. As the general store and post office, it served as a commercial and social centre for the entire district. The store operated until 1943, when it was sold to the newly-opened Valhalla Cooperative, but the building remained the post office until 1970.
Ole Melsness was among the first group of settlers who filed for land in the Valhalla District in 1912-13. He helped organize the school district, the Lutheran congregation, and the local branch of the United Farmers Association. Perhaps most importantly, he was instrumental in the founding of the Valhalla Creamery, which became the major industry of the district outside of farming.
The store is the only significant building remaining in the hamlet from the early 1920s. Its design - including the false front, boomtown facade and inset storefront - exemplifies the practical, economical style that characterized commercial buildings in rural settlements.
Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 1900)
Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the Melsness Mercantile Building include:
- form, scale and massing, including addition at the rear dating to the 1930s;
- wood frame construction with clapboard horizontal siding;
- plain front facade with central recessed entry;
- modified gable roof with narrow eaves and exposed rafters, and restored wood shingles, soffits, and fascias;
- fenestration pattern including single-pane, double-hung, equally divided windows and single door front entry in a five panel pattern with a transom light;
- interior finishing of shiplap walls and ceilings, and tongue-and-groove fir flooring.
Location
| Street Address: |
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| Community: |
Valhalla Centre |
| Boundaries: |
Lot 2, Block 1, Plan 6010ET |
| Contributing Resources: |
Building: 1
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ATS Legal Description:
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Mer |
Rge |
Twp |
Sec |
LSD |
6
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9
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74
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18
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4 (ptn.)
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PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
6010 ET
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1
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2
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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55.403678 |
-119.382791 |
GPS |
NAD 83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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6142285 |
0349124 |
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GPS |
NAD 83 |
Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Province of Alberta |
| Designation Status: |
Provincial Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
1997/12/18 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1923 to 1923 |
| Period of Significance: |
N/A |
| Theme(s): |
Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce
Peopling the Land : Settlement
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| Historic Function(s): |
Commerce / Commercial Services : Shop or Wholesale Establishment
Government : Post Office
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| Current Function(s): |
Leisure : Museum
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| Architect: |
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| Builder: |
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| Context: |
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
The Melsness Mercantile Company was established in 1925 by Ole Melsness, one of the pioneers of Valhalla Centre, who arrived from Crookston, Minnesota in 1913. He and his family established a farm on two quarter sections of land, which he continued to operate until 1929, at which time he devoted all his efforts to running the store and post office until his death in 1935. After that, the store was operated by other members of the family. Ole Melsness was active in the community, helping to organize the school district, the Lutheran congregation, the United Farmers Association and the Valhalla Cooperative Creamery. This building is therefore associated with settlement in the Peace River Country and with a community leader.
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Additional Information
| Object Number: |
4665-0578 |
| Designation File: |
DES 1900 |
| Related Listing(s): |
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| Heritage Survey File: |
HS 39691
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| Website Link: |
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| 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. 1900) |
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