Key Number:	HS 47504
Site Name:	Canadian Pacific Railway Station
Other Names:
Site Type:	0803 - Transportation - Rail Facility: Station

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			47	2	4

Address:
Number:
Street:
Avenue:
Other:
Town:	Paradise Valley
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:
Storeys:	Storeys: 1
Foundation:
Superstructure:	Nailed Frame
Superstructure Cover:	Wood: Siding
Roof Structure:	Medium Gable
Roof Cover:	Wood Shingle
Exterior Codes:
Exterior:	Superstructure cover: horizontal wood siding Roof cover: cedar shingle
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	N/A
Condition:	N/A
Alterations:	N/A

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
Constructed ca.	1929/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
N/A
Owner:	Owner Date:

Architect:	N/A
Builder:	N/A
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	D-2247 - CPR STATION, PARADISE VALLEY HISTORICAL CONTEXT: When members of the Barr Colony settled in what would become the Lloydminster district at the turn of the 20th century, they were soon served by the Canadian Northern Railway, which arrived in 1904. With this, the farming district quickly expanded. One the areas to be flooded with homesteaders was located just southwest of Lake Bricker, in a district to be named Paradise Valley by a promoter with the California Land Company named Frank Henton. The first settlers began to take up land in 1906, and in 1910 a store and post office was opened by Kenneth Gunn on SE30 TP46 R2 W4. Schools and churches soon followed in the district overall, although the main commercial centers remained Kitscoty and Lloydminster, some 20 km to the north and northeast. Like much of rural Alberta, the Paradise Valley district prospered during the World War I years, but suffered a recession during the immediate aftermath of the war, with the overproduction of grain causing international prices to fall. Then, with the Locarno Pacts opening up markets in Europe, the demand for western Canadian grain rose. This, coupled with high yields, brought prosperity to the district during the late 1920s. It was no doubt the high yields and growing demand for grain during 1926-28 that encouraged the Canadian Pacific Railway to extend a branch line from Marsden, Saskatchewan through to Paradise Valley in 1929. The track was built through to LSD 13 of NW6 TP47 R2 W4, where the CPR subdivided a townsite and erected a small station. The post office was brought in, and a community called Paradise Valley quickly evolved, although it was never large and would not be incorporated as a village until 1964. The CPR station at Paradise Valley was a small structure, in fact too small even to accommodate the station manager or his family. Its main purpose was to receive and dispatch mail, handle telegrams, and monitor the import of goods and supplies and the export of agricultural produce. A small storage shed was located next to it, and a railway tool shed next to this. The rail line itself was never extended beyond Paradise Valley, and so it remained a branch line, and the trains would have taken much time to reach the first large community to the east, which was Battleford. Passengers heading to Battleford and beyond, or west to Edmonton, therefore, would have been better served by going 20 km north to Kitscoty and taking the Canadian Northern line. The CPR station at Paradise Valley nonetheless continued to accommodate the district until the 1970s, when train service was reduced to such an extent that it was no longer viable to retain a station manager. Mail was now being delivered to the local post office to and from Kitscoty. According to the local history, published in 1981: For a number of years there has been no train service and the C.P.R. brings out a train only when needed to take out grain and at present people are fighting to keep this service for Paradise Valley. The grain elevators too would begin to disappear as the Alberta Wheat Pool, which owned all five of them in 1981, was soon to embark on a program of doing away with community elevators in favour of larger regional facilities. Rail service was halted altogether to Paradise Valley in the early 1990s, and the train station, along with the original Alberta Wheat Pool elevator, was turned over to the Paradise Valley & District Museum Society. The station has since been restored and moved closer to the elevator. HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The historical significance of the CPR Station in Paradise Valley lies in its representation of the major means of transport of goods and supplies into, and agricultural produce out of, the entire Paradise Valley district from 1929 until the late 1970s. Passenger service appears to have been minimal. The station is also significant in that it represents a typical small community station, providing vital services such as receiving and dispatching mail, accommodating the telegraph, and monitoring freight traffic. It was not large enough to accommodate the station agents or their families. Statement of Integrity The Paradise Valley CPR Station is significant as an example of CPR standard plan H-14-38A, a small and portable structure which was often intended only for temporary use and of which few examples remain. Despite having been moved a short distance from its historic location, this portable structure remains firmly in its historic context and retains more than sufficient integrity of environment, design and materials to convey its significance. Description of Historic Place The Canadian Pacific Railway Station is a single-storey, wood frame building situated beside the grain elevator complex in the village of Paradise Valley. Constructed circa 1929, the station is a simple building featuring horizontal wood siding and a cedar-shingled gable roof. The building's exterior is painted maroon with white trim.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	2008/09/30

Register:

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-1344