Alberta Wheat Pool Grain Elevator Site Complex

Andrew

Street Address:
Community:	Andrew
Boundaries:	Lot 2, Block 1, Plan 0222478
Contributing Resources:	Building: 4

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
4	16	56	32	2 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel
0222478	1	2

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
53.877342	-112.338956	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:	2002/12/06

Historical Information

Built:	1929 to 1929
Period of Significance:	1929 to 2000
Theme(s):	Developing Economies : Extraction and Production Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce
Historic Function(s):	Food Supply : Grain Elevator
Current Function(s):
Architect:
Builder:
Context:	When the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) entered Edmonton from the east in 1905, the rich agricultural region south of the Victoria Settlement had already been partially settled, the first residents being mostly Metis scrip holders. When the land was surveyed for homesteading purposes in the early 1890's, a number of English immigrants had also carved out farms in the area. During the late 1890's, the first wave of Ukrainian settlers arrived, and, with them, a number of rural communities were born. One of these was Andrew, just northwest of Whitford Lake, with both the lake and the community being named after Andrew Whitford, a Metis settler who died in 1902 when the Post Office was opened. Andrew survived as a rural farming hamlet until 1930, when a branch line of the Canadian Pacific Railway was extended north from Lloydminster past Two Hills, and skirted the north shore of Whitford Lake on its way to Bruderheim and Edmonton. The year before, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) had subdivided a new townsite northwest of the Lake, and so the hamlet of Andrew was moved a short distance to be next to the railway. Its population also quickly expanded, and, in June 1930, Andrew was incorporated as a village with over 500 people. Among the necessities of a northern Alberta village in the middle of a farming district were grain elevators. The late 1920's had seen a rapidly expanding international market for western Canadian wheat, and therefore, even before the railway arrived, six such structures were constructed just off the grade at Andrew. They were built by the Alberta Pacific Grain (APG) Company, the Bawlf Grain Company, the Home Grain Company, the Brooks Grain Company, the United Grain Growers (UGG) and the Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP). Of these, all but one was to change hands over the years, some of them several times. This was the original Alberta Wheat Pool elevator, which was also the only elevator to ultimately survive. It had capacity for 39, 700 bushels and was opened in November 1928, with H. Anderson as its first agent. On 5 January 1931, it was closed briefly due to the Great Depression, when the price of No. 1 wheat fell below 40 cents per bushel. The following August, it was opened to accommodate the fall harvest, and it would continue to withstand the rest of the Depression. Its low point, according to the Alberta Wheat Pool, was during 1935 to 1936, when only 26, 472 bushels were shipped out. By this time, many farmers were inclined not to sell their grain, for the cost of shipping it to the Lakehead was sometimes greater than the return from sales. By contrast, during 1976 to 1977, when the Pool operated four elevators in Andrew, 514, 251 bushels were reported to have been exported. In 1985, the AWP decided to bolster its original grain elevator in Andrew by adding two large new bins to either side of the structure, to give it a capacity of 149, 000 bushels. One was newly built, the other moved in from Mundare. This move probably resulted in the survival of this elevator, for new, modernized systems of grain handling were coming into the fore, with concrete bins and hydraulic lifts. Trucking grain to larger and more centralized locations was also becoming common. All across western Canada therefore, the traditional wood frame elevator was beginning to disappear, and, by the late 1990's, the old AWP elevator was the only one left in Andrew. In early 2000, it too was closed, and, in June of that year, it was purchased by the Andrew and District Historical Archives Museum Society. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The historical significance of the Andrew Grain Elevator Site Complex lies in its provision of structural evidence of a northern prairie wood frame grain elevator, examples of which are rapidly disappearing throughout western Canada. It is also significant locally, as evidence of the predominant economy of the Andrew area, grain farming, which the elevator served from 1928 until just recently. It is important as well as a structure of the Alberta Wheat Pool, symbolic of the co-operative marketing of farm produce, which had become common on the prairies during the 1920's. ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE The Andrew Grain Elevator Site Complex was erected by the Alberta Wheat Pool as part of a major building campaign in the 1920s. It consists of a central elevator, flanked by storage annexes. The tall narrow elevator has the characteristic monitor roofline, while the massive annexes have gable roofs. The complex follows a standard plan, and represents a typical building form which is today becoming ever more scarce.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0814
Designation File:	DES 2076
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 69750
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. 2076)