“An Analysis of ‘Sites of Memory’ in High River’s Built Environment”
By Jennifer Matte, Ambrose University
HI 495 Independent Research in History, April 2018
Nestled along the banks of Southern Alberta’s Highwood River is a dynamic, historic town. The town of High River is known for its small-town “People First”[1] feel, its custom of blending of “aristocratic gentility and frontier rowdiness,”[2] and its resilience in the face of an intermittently “high” river. The Highwood River flows out of the Canadian Rockies and winds through George Lane park where residents recall spending pleasant afternoons picnicking on its banks and splashing in the fresh water.[3] Less benignly, the river has also brought great destruction to the town, marring homes and historic buildings alike as in the recent flood of 2013.
Amidst efforts to maintain and rebuild damaged local buildings, a community project has developed through collaboration between the Ambrose University department of history, the Museum of the Highwood, the High River Centennial Library, and volunteers local to High River.[4] This collaborative project, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment,” is a local oral history initiative wherein the memories of High River residents are collected and explored with the aim to uncover the places in High River which are most significant to local history and, moreover, to local identity.[5] Consequently, this is a forward-looking venture as much as it is a retrospective project; for, the significance of various built spaces across the community landscape may affect the formation and direction of preservation efforts within the community. As a contribution to this project, the intent of this paper is twofold: first, to determine what specific qualities make a place a “site of memory”; and, second, to determine if these qualities have practical significance for High River restoration and memorialization projects.
What is a “site of memory”? As Joan M. Schwartz acknowledges in “Complicating the Picture: Place and Memory between Representation and Reflection,” the relationship between memory and place is remarkably difficult to pin down.[6] Consequently, there are many different ways in which “sites of memory” may be defined. On one hand, some scholars define these sites as those which wield ideological power and create space for value-dense community ritual. In the early twentieth century, Pierre Nora developed the term “lieux de memoir,” or “sites of memory,” to identify locations with meaning which are deeply ideological and deeply value ridden.[7] Specifically, he defined places of memory as “any significant entity, whether material or non-material in nature, which by dint of human will or the work of time has become a symbolic element of the memorial heritage of any community.”[8] Adding a new layer to this concept, in “Sites of Memory and the Shadow of War,” Jay Winter describes “sites of memory” as stages for embodied social ritual: “sites of memory” are places “where groups of people engage in public activity through which they express collective knowledge.”[9] On the other hand, “sites of memory” may refer to any place that performs a mnemonic function. This function characterized the ancient understanding between memory and place: Cicero believed physical locations of memory were invaluable mnemonic devices.[10] Such sites are many and necessary; for, as Gaston Gordillo states in Landscapes of Devils, “every memory is, in a fundamental way, the memory of place.”[11] In fact, combining definitions of “site of memory” in their introduction to Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada, James Opp and John C. Walsh explain that locating memory in a place is critical both to the formation of memory, as well as to perpetuating memory’s “social, cultural, and political power.”[12] In order to uncover the common qualities of sites of memory, this paper begins by considering any place the community considered memorable as a “site of memory.” From this broad starting point, it became possible to hone in on common and distinct features between various sites. Access to oral history sources facilitated the selection and analysis of locations based on this broad definition.
The medium of oral history is particularly suited to determine which places remain significant to community memory in High River; for, as Paul Thompson clarifies in The Voice of the Past, the recitation of memory for oral history studies highlight events in such a way that the social significance associated with memories of those events becomes clear.[13] Consequently, the way in which interviewees discuss places not only indicates that a place is memorable, but it also gives clues as to the social significance of the place. Furthermore, the oral history interview process provided the flexibility to target the exact variety of evidence needed.[14] This targeting becomes particularly useful as extant material records often are created for business reasons, rather than because of social significance. Consequently, socially significant places may be overlooked if it were not for oral records. Local recollections of the New Look Café provides an excellent example of the efficacy of oral history sources in detecting places of memory in High River; for, though the New Look is significant in the memories of residents, very few archival records may be found regarding the building’s history. Fittingly, this project relies heavily on oral history records, though other sources supplement this body of research.
To begin, the first task of this study was to select places of significance from the oral history transcripts. There were many significant places in the memories of residents, including the curling rink, George Lane Park, Quon’s Groceries, the Rodeo Grounds, and many others. A sample of the most socially significant locations were selected based on frequency of mention within interviews and the degree of personal importance interviewees attributed to the buildings. As a consequence of this process, four buildings emerged as significant “sites of memory”: the Wales Theatre, the New Look Café, the St. George Hotel, and the Memorial Centre.
In this paper I will demonstrate that, though these buildings are memorable for a variety of reasons, an analysis of related memories show that these locations fall into two antithetical forms of “sites of memory,” and simultaneously, share a common feature: they are arenas of community routine. Also, this paper will demonstrate that my findings about “sites of memory” have practical consequences both for the definition of “sites of memory” and, moreover, for preservation and renovation initiatives in High River. To these ends, this paper pursues the following line of argument: first, I will demonstrate the various qualities memorable in each building; second I will discuss the limits of these findings; third, I will explain the common factor among these sites; and, finally, I will explore the consequences these findings have for understanding “sites of memory” and building preservation initiatives in High River.
In the first place, each of the Wales Theatre, the New Look Café, the St. George Hotel, and the Memorial Centre are memorable for dissimilar reasons. For instance, the Wales Theatre is a model business and eminently respectable, upholding family values and providing valuable services to a myriad of High River residents across age groups. The New Look Café, on the other hand, is memorable specifically for providing a home for youth culture to flourish in High River. Contrary to the first two buildings, the St. George is memorable for being ambivalently both family friendly, as well as the center for local rowdiness. Most significant of these buildings, however, is the Memorial Centre which provided space for a plethora of activities and functioned as a place of official, national commemoration. These qualities will be explored in detail in the following analysis.
The Wales Theatre
Prior to the building of the Wales Theatre, High River already had a thriving entertainment culture. As early as 1906, a local theatre offered the first local showing of “moving pictures” and featured “high class refined vaudeville.”[15] On November 12th of 1909, the local theatre is recorded to have hosted “Grand Opera Singers” and a “Symphony Orchestra.”[16] Then, in 1918 the same theatre held a performance of “The Daughter of the Sun,” featuring “the Sacred Hula Dancers from Haleokelo Temple” of Hawaii.[17] Built in 1928 by Mr. John Edlund, the building which would become the “Wales Theatre” was originally christened “The Highwood.”[18] In 1929, the building was equipped to display talking pictures. [19] Mr. Sam Taylor purchased the theatre in 1933 and christened it the “Wales Theatre” in honor of the Prince of Wales who owned a ranch just outside town between the years of 1919 and 1936.[20] Earl Lewis, the subsequent owner of the theatre, expanded his business to include a local drive-in theatre, Earl’s Drive-In. Mr. Lewis eventually sold both businesses, but the Wales Theatre remains part of High River’s downtown landscape and still plays films to this day. After subjection to flood damage, the theatre was repaired on multiple occasions. Norm Denney remembers participating in the restoration process after the flood of 1932.[21] Most recently, the theatre was also renovated after the flood of 2013.[22]
By piecing together various memories, the Wales Theatre emerges as a model business through its service of the High River community: first, the theatre provided the community with a desired service; second, it promoted family values; third, it was a model business; and, fourth, the Wales Theatre connected the community of High River to the wider Canadian community. In the first place, the Wales Theatre came to service a community which already demonstrated demand for new forms of visual entertainment and recreation. High River residents remember the Wales Theatre positively: “The theatre? Well it was, the spot,” observed Bill Lewis. [23] The “typical Friday or Saturday night activity was to go to a movie,” according to Jim Ross.[24] Indeed, the community as a whole greatly enjoyed the theatre.[25] The youth of High River were particularly willing patrons. Len Zebedee recalls patronizing the Wales Theatre whenever he could afford the ticket: “Every time, or every opportunity that we had, if it was a good movie … we went there quite a bit when we were younger.”[26] To cater to a young audience, owner Bill Lewis began showing Saturday afternoon shows for the younger folk. Consequently, the Saturday afternoon matinee was so packed that the theatre would regularly reach maximum capacity. Jill Henheffer relates a memory of the bustling theatre:
I started going there as a fairly young child. They always had Saturday afternoon matinees and I remember going to lots and lots of those. … that theatre was packed with kids on a Saturday afternoon and trying to keep some kind of order out of that chaos must have been a huge challenge … I loved going to it—loved going. [27]
In addition to providing shows for young children, the Wales Theatre is remembered as a place for teenagers to hang out and enter the dating scene. Saturday nights were the generally accepted times to be out “on the town.” Ann Harris recalls, the “Saturday evening, a lot of the times we went to a show.”[28] On such nights, the balcony seats were reserved for youth over 14 and were constructed to provide space for couples. In Eldon Couey’s youth, “You’d have to take a girl, you know.”[29] The Wales theatre was “the dating spot” and double-seats were installed for couples.[30] Ann Harris cheekily recalls the dating seats: “And they had two seats down at the front and those were the ones for [whispers] couples!”[31]
Secondly, the Wales Theatre was memorable for promoting family-friendly entertainment. The theatre, dating from Mr. Tyler’s ownership, is remembered as a respectable business that featured family-friendly content. Inhabitants remember that the Wales theatre was a respectable institution from the business’ early years. In its early years, Mr. Tyler saw his theatre as a place to educate and refine High River society; this is evident from his stationary on which was inscribed the following description of his business: “The Temple of Refined Entertainment and Education.”[32] To uphold this standard, Mr. Tyler censored sections out of movies which he thought were morally unsuitable. [33] Similarly, Earl Lewis asserted that all movies shown were “family entertainment” and were regularly patronized by appreciative locals.[34] Mr. Lewis explains that owning the theatre continued to be a pleasure until the movies available began to display decreasing moral decency. [35]
Third, the Wales Theatre was notable for being a model-run business. Most memories of the Theatre construct an image of the business as being characterized by orderly management, careful business planning, and adaptation to changing technology and entertainment trends. In fact, both Mr. Tyler and, later, Mr. Lewis kept an orderly business through the imposition of a strict code of conduct within the establishment. Peter Pickersgill remembers the reverence instilled in the children of High River by the firmness of Mr. Tyler’s management:
[We] had a lot of fun in the theatre but nobody did any damage and it was treated almost reverently … because they took such good care of it and were strict enough so that there was no fooling around, or hollering, or noise. They just didn’t permit that. It was a very good place to go and had a huge reputation in southern Alberta in those years.[36]
Connie Jewell remembers that Earl Lewis continued to enforce this strict code of conduct: he “didn’t put up with a lot of nonsense”. [37] On the contrary, rowdy patrons were subject to bodily expulsion. Mr. Lewis’ son Bill recalls his father’s warning call: “I’ll come down here and grab you by the ear, and you’ll be gone!” [38] Bill Lewis affirms that this was a serious threat: his father gripped young “people by the ear and walked them out the door! So, it didn’t take long ‘till everybody realized that they better behave in the theatre.”[39] Ann Harris also remember being reprimanded when, at seeing Elvis Presley on the screen for the first time, she joined her friends in excited screams; they thought it was just the thing one did in such a circumstance. [40] Ostensibly, Earl Lewis thought otherwise.
Apart from the difficulty of keeping order amongst the young children on Saturday afternoon, the only time that the interviews evidence a moment of chaos ruining the orderly running of Mr. Lewis’ theatre was a consequence of a local prank. Bill Lewis recalls when a group of inebriated fellows crossing over from the St. George Hotel bar caused a ruckus:
So, it’s a true story that these goats or sheep … came into the theatre while, of course, Dad was there, and I remember him telling the story of all these goats running all around with the show was going on … and of course you’re trying to herd the goats out of the theatre. [41]
It took a gang of drunken men and a truckload of farm animals to challenge the conscientious policies of Mr. Lewis.
In addition to enforcing respectful behaviour, Mr. Lewis’ carefully planned his business practice to coordinate the acquisition of films in a timely manner and, also, to keep up with competing companies. Indeed, acquiring films required meticulous networking and planning. Mr. Lewis’ son, Robert, explains that purchasing movies for the theatre required forethought, teamwork, and bargaining technique. Robert Lewis explains that his father “would buy, six months’ worth of movies” at the theatre exchange, an exploit complicated by the fact that the “big boys” of the movie industry “got their choice of everything.” [42] To solve this problem, Mr. Lewis teamed up with the other small film dealer to compete with the larger companies. [43] Consequently, the movies would be shared and would follow a complicated, time-sensitive circuit between theatres: “and it was a big deal, you know on Saturday night to get that film to wherever it was, like the bus depot or the train depot or whatever because it had to be at another theatre the next day.[44]
Sometimes, however, it was impossible to buy a movie. The most popular movies were lent out through a different system. Theatres who played the most popular movies owed a larger percentage of their earnings to the film company: “But if he put a big movie in a percent what he’d call a percentage movie, obviously, 85% was gone, and he just said it wasn’t worth his while.” [45] Lewis had to juggle such tough decisions financial decisions on top of his other business-related duties.
Though keeping the business running effectively was no simple task, Earl Lewis managed to outwit his business competition. In the 1950s, when he heard a company from Calgary made plans to build a drive-in. [46] Mr. Lewis kept the competition from draining his cliental by first building his own drive-in, and then by buying out his competition. Both drive-ins existed for a period; Corky Rousseau recalls attending both of them.[47] However, the competition didn’t last.[48] Mr. Lewis managed to buy it “and shut it down and sold all the stuff off it.”[49]
Despite his work ethic, Mr. Lewis’ business suffered with the development of television: “the theatre business really took a dive when the TV coming in, which was about 1957.”[50] Indeed, the shift to television was felt across North America in the 1950s: television sales skyrocketed, turning television into film’s mortal cultural rival.[51] Ultimately, Mr. Lewis opted to sell the Wales Theatre to Guy and Linda Erickson.[52] Still, the theatre lives on and continues to serve the community after this new transition.
In addition to functioning as an efficiently organized business, the Wales Theatre was also an effective business through becoming involved in community outreach. According to Rafael Gomez et al in Small Business and the City: Transformative Potential of Small-scale Entrepreneurship, staying small and focusing on “community engagement” makes all the difference for small town businesses.[53] Indeed, the Wales Theatre is particularly memorable for reaching out to the need of the community, both by providing families with convenient weekly children’s serial cartoons and by hosting a free Christmas movie each year. The Saturday shows provided a weekly gathering place for High River youth and an opportunity for parents to shop downtown unhindered. Bill Holmes describes the serial cliff-hangers that would bring the kids back each week: “They’d just show you a little bit of the stories and then they’d get to the exciting parts and they’d quit, and you’d have to come back the next week to see the next part of the story.”[54] Conveniently located in downtown High River, parents could drop their children off at the theatre and enjoy an afternoon of uninterrupted shopping:
I know we came to town when—like us kids would go to movies. Lots of times they were like kid’s movies, cartoons, that kind of thing. We’d come in for the movie and mom and dad would go do their shopping. [55]
The annual Christmas special at the Wales Theatre was no less prominent in the memories of residents. Each year, a visit from Santa, a bag of treats, [56] and a free Christmas movie at the Wales theatre made up this memorable day:
[They would] bring Santa Claus in on a wagon, and then we’d go up a step thing that they had built alongside the wagon, collect a bag of candy, and then off to the Wales Theatre for the free … Christmas movie. So, it was kinda great for us young kids: Get a bag of oranges and candies and off to the Wales theatre for the movie. … everybody was there. … it didn’t matter how cold it was you waited for Santa, got your bag of goodies, then off to the show. [57]
In the Theatre, older kids would sit on the “balcony and we always threw pieces of oranges or candy down on the little kids. [Laughter] It’s still a good memory.”[58] As was the case with Saturday afternoons, while the kids enjoyed their treat, parents often made use of the opportunity to do errands around the town: “your parents would go Christmas shopping usually.”[59]
In addition to supporting the community through a free Christmas movie and by providing an opportunity for families to finish errands on Saturdays, the Wales Theatre also kept up with changing needs of the community by adapting effectively through changing technology and entertainment trends. For example, during the Second World War, the Wales Theatre provided regular newsreels on the progress of the war. [60] Then, the Wales theatre began providing family-friendly entertainment for youth as trends in the 1940s progressed toward and acceptance of youth culture and the youth marketplace which would become a “hallmark of modernity.”[61] Furthermore, as drive-in theatres began to take off in the 1950s, Earl Lewis beat the competition and kept up with entertainment trends by building his own drive-in.[62] Finally, though television threatened to out-compete the theatre, the recent owners have managed to keep the theatre running though offering popular films.
Beyond demonstrating its success as a local business, the fourth reason the Wales Theatre was significant in the memories of High River residents was due to its ability to connect the High River community to the Canadian national community. Early in its history, the Wales Theatre provided international news. Under the management of Mr. Tyler during the Second World War, for example, the community could gather “to watch all the war newsreels”.[63] Likewise, in the early years of Mr. Lewis’ ownership of the theatre, newsreels would play before each film:
Shows would start off with a cartoon and then they would have a travelogue where they’d show a trip to Bermuda or something like that, then they had the newsreel (Paramount Canadian News); because, there was no television back then. So, you got your news in movie pictures through the theatre.[64]
However, this practice grew to be unnecessary as television developed in the late fifties and early sixties. Likewise, keeping up with nationally shown movies has allowed the theatre to keep the town of High River in on the cultural milieu provided by film.
Conclusively, the Wales Theatre was a significant location in the memories of High River residents because of its service to the community by supporting local families through community outreach, by providing family-friendly entertainment, by functioning as a model business which was run efficiently and kept up with modern trends, and by connecting the community of High River to the national community through presenting news in its early years and continuing to present current, internationally viewed movies. Though this building was not manufactured as a site of memory, the practical function of the business within the community turned the Wales Theatre into a memorable location for High River residents. For, the Wales Theatre embodied High River’s work ethic, family ethic, and business savvy, elements which were characteristic of the business sense deeply rooted in High River heritage; in fact, the town had been founded as part of a larger effort of rough labour and economic “boosterism.”[65]
The New Look Cafe
High River’s New Look Café was memorable as a center of high-spirited youth culture. Leading up to the 1950s, teenagers were stepping forth as new economic target groups.[66] Flashing a classic 1950s style, the New Look sported round red stools, “humongous booths,” jukebox music, and a copious selection of soda pop syrup flavours. [67] Above the brightly coloured main flour, “the guys” could play pool.[68] With these amenities, the New Look became the afternoon hang out of choice for most youth.[69] Lorna Way remembers her afternoons there: “we’d go there after school to the New Look.”[70] Similarly, Bill Lewis remembers regular hangouts: “everybody after school went to the New Look Café … that was just what you did.”[71] When asked what his favourite place was to hand out in town, Barton Brocklebank didn’t hesitate, “New Look Café was one!” he offered.[72]
The interviews are conflicted concerning the relationship between the owners and the young guests. Sometimes the owner of the New Look, Seito Gan, found his clientele unsuitably effervescent: Jim Lewis recalls that “as a kid if you got too rowdy they’d throw you out, and of course the next day you’d be back.”[73] Nevertheless, other accounts recall more respectful youth behaviour: “Kids would just arrive there after school and there might be ten or fifteen of us, and we just sat there and visited for an hour and then went on our way.”[74]
Hangouts revolved around the enjoyment of various unique sodas: the Graveyard and Cherry Coke were particularly memorable. The Graveyard was a mix of every single one of the available soda flavours: “a mixture of these syrups with soda water and it was like a pop … Like cherry, grapes, and you name it. It was the Graveyard.”[75] Similarly, Lorna Way recalls that these drinks were an important part of the New Look experience: “it was the fountain pops or a Graveyard. They would put all of the fountain syrups together and put it in a coke. It was so good.”[76] The pop took precedence, even over the food. “I don’t remember ever really eating a meal there. It was just there more for pop … [laughter] probably the people that owned it wished we’d order something.”[77] Bill Lewis explains how the New Look made their living: the young crowd, while possibly the most emphatic and iconic customers, were only a small portion of the Café’s clientele: there “was probably the lunch crowd which we would never see, then there was us, that came in at four, and we were gone by five, and then they had their supper crowd.”[78]
However, the New Look Café was not universally attended, as the “girly magazines out front” concerned some parents.[79] Also, Peter Pickersgill explains that he attended, but didn’t consider it a critical place for him: “I don’t think I had a place.”[80] Indeed, the unfortunate closing of the café ended its ongoing participation in High River youth culture.[81] Nevertheless, despite a few exceptions and its eventual closing, the New Look is remembered as having maintained a central place in the experience High River youth “for many, many years.”[82]
The St. George Hotel
The St. George Hotel has somewhat mysterious origins; it may have been originally owned by John C. Brazier as early as 1892, though it seems likely that his brother Joe Limoges took possession not long after at which time the hotel was rechristened the “St. George.”[83] Originally, the St. George Hotel stood on 2nd Avenue SE High River until it moved to a more central location.[84] Reconstructed in 1905 on 1st Street SW by George Ross, the new building changed ownership multiple times between 1908 and 1928.[85] After various improvements, a wide veranda was removed from the main level and reconstructed to circumnavigate the upper, white-rimmed windows, the hall was decorated with elaborate taxidermy, and various additions were constructed.[86] In time, the hotel contained a restaurant, bar, hotel rooms, a bus stop, and a bus stop waiting area.[87] The first barbershop attached to the St. George was complete quite early in 1910 but was demolished as part of the Hotel’s expansion renovations. A new St. George Barber Shop was constructed in 1932, became a bookstore in the 1960s, and was demolished as part of the CIBC redevelopment project in May of 1980.[88] However, in the early years of High River’s community, the barbershop functioned as the town’s “daily news centre.”[89]
Paul Voisey’s High River and the High River Times unveiled the community’s historic identity as characterized by a paradoxical mix of “aristocratic gentility and frontier rowdiness.”[90] In the memories of High River residents, the St. George Hotel had just such a split character. On one hand, the hotel was remembered for its family-friendly restaurant and, on the other hand, the hotel was remembered as a center for rowdy locals to unwind after a wearying day of work on the ranch. Lorna Way also notes the pleasantness of having a family restaurant in town: “it was so nice. A restaurant right in the town.” Similarly, Bill Holmes remarked that the St. George was the best place to dine out in town: it “was a nice restaurant there with a dining room, so if you were going to dine out in style you went to the St. George.”[91]
Despite positive memories surrounding this building, the back bar was far from reputable. Lorna Way recalls that the bar was questionable: “I’m not sure about the beer parlour part.”[92] From the early days of the hotel, the St. George housed many disreputable and rowdy guests. For example, in 1912, a man calling himself J. C. Gordon rented a room at the St. George Hotel with his supposed wife. [93] However, after he leapt out of the window and broke both legs, it came to light that the scoundrel’s real name was Milton Harkly and the lady he was with was a young woman who he had wooed with false promises of a future marriage. [94] The girl was sent home to her family and it was decided that Mr. Harkly would be charged “with a serious criminal offence.”[95] Furthermore, Dave Wheatcroft was an example of the bar’s rowdy clientele. Wheatcroft, a local “bronco buster,” was notable for his ability to “stand in a hotel room and kick the electric light bulb on the ceiling.”[96] Then, he would regularly put on an unruly display for patrons of the St. George hotel by kicking drifters out from the water tower heating room. [97]
In the more recent past, the St. George bar continued to be a center of disorderly behavior. Cathy Couey recalled the stigma of attending the bar which was “the forbidden place, right? But you hear stories and you think about the people that are in there.”[98] Deb Gardiner never entered the hotel: “It was a hotel that I didn’t ever get to go in.” Lorna Way remembered feeling uncomfortable with being seen at a bar: “it was kind of like you weren’t supposed to be seen in the bar so even in my adulthood I probably—we’d go but you know but just for an occasion.”[99] Bill Holmes recounted the bar’s continuing rowdy reputation:
Often on Saturday nights you could just hang around the front door there and fight would break out inside the bar and the barkeeper would kick them out, and they’d fight in the street, and pretty soon the town policeman would come out be there trying to break it up and put one in the car, or both in the car, drive them off to jail.[100]
Bill Holmes remembered enjoying spending Saturday nights “down there watching the fights.”[101] One of these raucous nights was responsible for the “goat incident” at the Wales Theatre.[102] Belf Quon recalled enjoying his extended patronage of the St. George hotel bar: “a lot of times we’d sit there half the night and just have a good time. … sure we drank sometimes too much, but we always got home.”[103] These memories have become of particular significance to High River residents as the escapades of this wilder set were recorded in the works of local author W.O. Mitchell.[104] High River’s “social life has never been dull,” writes research historian Lillian Knupp in her work on the history of High River. [105]
As the hotel aged, it gained further notoriety for increasing shabbiness. Jill Henheffer remembers feeling put off by the hotel: “I know it had a great history and probably had all kinds of good stories to share, but it was definitely faded and rough and not a place that I really cared to spend any time in.”[106] Cathy Couey explains that the hotel had a special notoriety for buying beds from the hospital: “So there was definitely the joke about staying there because it was old and, when we went in there, [for] some of the rooms they’d actually bought old hospital beds from the old hospital … I think there was definitely that stigma.”[107]
Nevertheless, the behavior at the St. George may have been boisterous but was not a serious moral concern for the neighborhood. For example, while Jeanette Rousseau remembers feeling uncomfortable walking by the St. George on her way home from school, nevertheless, she remarks that the hotel was never a major concern in the mind of parents: “yet parents never seemed to worry about us taking two hours to get home from school.”[108] Indeed, despite its eventual dilapidation and demolition in 1980 to make way for a new CIBC parking lot, the St. George was an important place in the memory of High River residents. Larry Snodgrass remembers “St. George again was a gathering spot for us back in those days … Kind of miss the old St. George now.”[109]
The Memorial Centre
Of all High River’s building’s, the Memorial Centre might have the most social significance for the community due to its function as a multifaceted, dynamic community space. Dick Liddell proposed that the Memorial Centre was the pride of High River: “the Memorial Centre is a big thing for the town.”[110] Moreover, his wife, Shirley Liddell, suggested that the building constituted the center of community life.[111] Similarly, Mrs. Gardner recalled that the Centre formed an indispensable vessel for community relationships: “It was like a bowl holding us all together.”[112] The Memorial Centre also served as a “hub” for social life in High River: “it’s truly the hub … It’s definitely a hub,” recalled Cathy Couey.[113] In fact, interviews indicated five ways in which the Memorial centre was significant: first, the Centre grew out of successful community collaboration; second, it was constructed out of materials already significant to High River memory; third, it provided space for a plethora of local offices, associations, and events; fourth, it adapted to survive through time; and, fifth, the Memorial Centre became a place of national commemoration.
In the first place, the origin of the Memorial Centre represented a decisive, collective effort of the community to build a communal space. In 1946, through the initiative of the Rotary club, the “main push” behind the project, a Community Council was formed in collaboration with various local organizations and began to plan the acquisition of a community centre. [114] Local historian Lillian Knupp explains that, during the 1940s, the government did not involve itself in such local ventures; rather, the community came up with a plan and took funding and building into their own hands.[115] Knupp explained that the community successfully raised the necessary funds through the involvement of residents from across economic strata. [116] By early 1947, she notes that the committee raised “over $20,000.00 in cash, $10,000.00 in pledges and $7,500.00 from organizations.” [117] This significant financial and organizational achievement bore material fruit in the summer of 1948 when the cement foundation was poured under the direction of Leo Heywood, the chief builder guiding the operation.[118] The new Community Centre, facing the entrance of George Lane Park,[119] was barely completed in time for the Christmas High school banquet.[120] The last additions before the event, according to Lillian Knupp, were a stove and sink which committee members “lifted” from the “Officer’s Mess at the airport” the night prior to the banquet. [121]
Secondly, the Memorial Centre is significant because it was built out of materials from the local flight school responsible for training pilots during the Second World War: in fact, several sections of the training school were retooled to become part of the Memorial Centre building.[122] Eldon Couey remembers that the Memorial Centre’s main hall was built from the air school’s recreation hall.[123] This use of the airport buildings served a practical purpose. Bill Holmes recalls the efficiency of reusing airport structures while building the Centre:
[If] you’re going to buy new lumber from the lumberyard, it’s going to cost far more. And some of the roof supports, they were all prefabricated. So, they just had to haul them in and fuse them, and same with the windows.[124]
In addition to saving costs, the use of these materials served to preserve materials associated with a significant element of High River’s heritage.
In 1921, the first air station in High River opened and, in 1923, it came under the Royal Canadian Air Force.[125] Its original purpose was to patrol daily for fires.[126] In 1941, the Empire Flying Training School No. 5 opened to train pilots during the Second World War, successfully training ninety-seven classes of pilots by 1944.[127] Fittingly, the Memorial Centre now contains an honor wall commemorating the training school.[128] The town has made further efforts to memorialize the air school through a brightly painted montage mural which embellishes the brick wall of the local Telus building and memorializes such prominent residents as Doug Dreidiger, a decorated air commander who was stationed in High River.[129]
The third reason the Memorial Centre is important in the memories of residents lies in the fact that it provided space for an immense diversity of local offices, associations, and events. From the beginning, the Memorial Centre housed the Legion Lounge, Town Office, Council Chambers, Old Timers’ room, Teen Town,[130] and the Air Cadet’s shooting gallery. [131] In 1949, the Library moved from Town Hall into the Memorial Centre, where it remained until 1967.[132] General facilities included foyer, cloakroom, washrooms, a large hall, a stage with spotlighting, showers, and a sports hall for both badminton and basketball. [133] The Centre also provided space for the Town Office and Legion Lounge until they acquired their own space in 1964 and 1980 respectively.[134] Also, clubs housed within the Memorial Centre included the Rotary Club, Teen Town, the Royal Legion, Air Cadets, and the 20/30 Club. The Memorial Centre also hosted Amateur Night competitions and various other events.
In October of 1928, The Rotary Club was organized by “A good representation of townsmen” in conversation with the Rotary Club of Calgary during a meeting in High River’s United Church hall.[135] This beginning period was described by the Rotary President, Grant Marshall, in 1978 as a time when “men wore boots, chewed tobacco, cussed openly among themselves, worked hard 12 hours a day. Never had any cash, and looked on the ladies with awe, just the way things are today!”[136] Later, many of the Rotary Clubs events were held in the Memorial Centre after the Centre’s construction. For instance, Jackie Nelson who worked as a server at the Memorial Centre, recalls serving the Rotary Club at its weekly meeting.[137] The Memorial Centre expanded its kitchen over time to host more comfortably such meetings and associations.[138]
Doug Ellis claims that the Rotary club was, in fact, the most significant of High River’s varied associations.[139] The clubs performed such services as fiscal support for youth to attend the Spitzee camp for boys, hosting dignitaries, meeting with the Board of Trade and Government officers, supporting the High River Museum, sponsoring street and house numbering, holding a wide variety of fundraisers, organizing youth groups, sponsoring the an Air Cadet Group, hosting local events, and running restoration projects.[140] The library too began as a Rotary initiative in 1939, before it became a municipal project in 1941.[141] Moreover, Debra Gardner asserts that, while the Club was internally united, it also served to connect High River with the wider international community: the Rotary club donated money to “people really in need in other countries. … So, it has an international component.” [142]
An important event hosted by Rotary Club at the Memorial Centre included the annual Christmas party “for the kiddies” of Rotary Club Members, an event complete with Santa Claus, carols, and gifts.[143] Jim Lewis remembers these Christmas parties fondly: “I sure, as a little kid I remember the Christmas parties. The Rotary would have had a Christmas party, Santa Claus coming and all that. I was pretty young but I can certainly remember that.”[144] Bill Holmes also remembers “the Christmas party with Santa Claus.”[145]
In addition to Rotary events, from its very beginning the Memorial Centre housed a significant teen organization: Teen Town.[146] In fact, Teen Town was allotted its very own room in the basement of the new Centre.[147] This “favourite postwar youth organization in Canada,” solidified its position as the top of all such youth associations in Canada by 1949.[148] It was constructed for both boys and girls to socialize in a safe, coed environment.[149] In High River, the club formed out of the 1943 Teen Age Canteen club.[150] Primarily, Teen Town aimed to form future leaders and voters through its own town council and mayor and through hosting youth events. [151] According to Lillian Knupp, Teen Town was, for many years, an important social element in the lives of High River youth.[152]
High River residents recall the variety and importance of Teen Town events in their early memories of High River. Bill Holmes remembers many of the lively events organized by Teen Town: “we had Friday night dances, or record hops, and they’d just use a record player and play rock music for who would show up, we had membership. It was good times had by all.”[153] Eldon Couey, once mayor of Teen Town, recalls organizing a variety of meetings and dances, particularly a Halloween party.[154] Another of the many events hosted by Teen Town was the “Teen Queen contest,” which was conducted “as seriously as any national pageant.”[155] The competition included such events as a “grand march” and Father and Daughter dance.[156]
Many interviewees emphasize the importance of these Teen Town events. Patty McPherson, for instance, exclaims of the regular Friday night dance, “it was wonderful. Every Friday.”[157] Jim Lewis remembers both the dances and the Wednesday night meetings: “You know there were dances and meetings … that was a place that you went to a lot.”[158] Elaine Mason stated that Teen Town was a universally enjoyed good time: “Teen Town was always fun and I think everyone pretty well went to Teen Town, you know, it was a meeting place and everybody just hung out.”[159] Cathy Couey highlighted the significance of these events in the Memorial Centre: she remarked that the high attendance and sense of community created by Teen Town events reflected her favorite dimension of life in High River: the close knit community. She explains:
There’s pictures of the Teen Town dances and the Memorial Centre being absolutely packed. There’s always been that real sense of community. And I think that’s probably what stands out the most for me about High River[160]
Though it was a pillar of youth socialization for many years, Teen town was dissolved by the mid-1980s. [161]
The Royal Canadian Legion was another organization which was granted a room in the original Memorial Centre until they built a new Legion hall in 1980.[162] The Legion formed in 1928 after the First World War and was provided with new meeting quarters when the Memorial Centre was built in 1948.[163] Dick Liddell recalls how the Centre built as “a memorial of the men in High River,” became the home for the Legion of High River war veterans. [164] Money had already been collected following the Second World War to create a clubhouse for the Legion, but the Legion’s project (and associated funds), after a vote, were combined with that of the Memorial Centre.[165] The Legion has served the community of High River through maintaining high school scholarship funds and by organizing a well-attended annual Remembrance Day service.[166]
The Memorial Centre housed the Air Cadets. Dick Liddell participated in this organization: “I used to be in army cadets when I was younger, so we were pretty involved with the legion in our town.”[167] Wayne Moore recalled cadet activities taking place on both the main and lower floors of the Memorial Centre:
I was an Air Cadet here and we used to meet in the basement of the Memorial Centre and there was a shooting range down there, so that is where we would do our shooting, and then we would do our drill in the main hall. So that was the main memory of that.[168]
Mr. Moore noted that the Air Cadets would use the shooting range in the Memorial Centre basement. The use of this basement was noteworthy, as it crossed over with other groups. Jim Lewis remarked that the range was likely used by other groups; and, indeed it was.[169] Young adults participated in a Cadets club for instance, as well as other members of the community.[170]
In the memory of Debra Gardner, the significance of the target range lay in the community effort which went into its construction. Debra Gardner explains:
[People] pitching in … they were down there with buckets taking the dirt out so that they could get enough of a ceiling … So, you know, there was a real attachment so that when they renovated it a few years ago some people were just saying “we’ll just tear it down and start over,” but people who had carried those buckets of dirt out were so attached. It was really important to them that it [is] preserved.[171]
Clearly, this basement section of the Memorial Centre was important both because of its connection to a military past through hosting the Air Cadets, and also because of the effort and group collaboration required during its construction.
The Memorial Centre Amateur Night was another social activity central to the High River community. The Amateur Night was an annual talent show displaying the various talents of both students and adults in a competitive atmosphere. [172] Jill Henheffer recalled the yearly Amateur night and being forced by her piano teacher to participate in these shows: “if you were taking piano or any of those things, that you would be expected to participate in this yearly talent show.”[173] Elaine Mason, on the other hand, related contented memories of attending the show as a young girl: “That was always a big thing every year and some years you would have ten people singing the same song or whatever, but you know, it was always fun.”[174] Other performances, such as those put on by the Windmill Theatre, beginning in 1974, took place at the Memorial Centre.[175]
The Memorial Centre was also the prime party location in the town.[176] For instance, the New Years Eve party was well remembered by various High River interviewees. Lorna Way elaborated:
[We] used to go to a nice New Years Eve party at the Memorial Centre. They’d have a band that would be … playing and people would dress up and those were nice times. [177]
Belf Quon also remembered the dances fondly and recalled the fun he had sneaking in mickeys to the party. [178]
There were a wide variety of other groups, associations, and events that where hosted in the Memorial Centre, including the 20/30 club, the 4-H Club, a playschool, fairs, annual meetings, car shows, Frontier Nights, symphonies, talent nights, ballets, Town and Country Fairs, art exhibits, plays, fashion shows, auction sales … funerals, weddings, dances, meetings, and teas.”[179] For example, after its genesis in November of 1947, the 20/30 club met in the Memorial Centre.[180] It was, according to Debra Gardner, “mostly as a social group, and every once in a while they’ll do a fundraiser or something to sponsor something in the community.”[181] In particular, the 20/30 Club supported youth and child initiatives around the town.[182] Additionally, the 4-H club provided speech training and held presentations at the Memorial Centre. [183] Norma Denney also recalls attending a playschool in the Centre [184] and both Bill Holmes and Jim Lewis explain that school plays were held at the Memorial Centre.[185]
The High school Christmas formal was the first event hosted at the Memorial Centre[186] and continued annually until the early seventies. [187] Quon Belf recalls attending the very first of these events:
Each year we’d have … a Christmas banquet—and I think we were the first class of grade 12 that had [a] banquet at the Memorial Centre. I think that was ’49, ’50. And it was all finished but some of the inside parts, like some of the floorboards and some of the doors weren’t put in yet. But that’s where we had the first banquet. [188]
Many residents remembered the importance of the Christmas formal in the community’s memory. Lorna Way informed her interviewer, Brittany Alonso, that she would be sure to hear many residents recall memories of the Christmas formal: “Yeah you’ll hear about Christmas banquets ‘cause that was kind of a High River thing.”[189] In the words of Gloria Lundberg, “It was huge.”[190] These banquets, held in the Memorial Centre, replaced the high school graduation ceremony for High River students. Jill Henheffer explains this arrangement:
I remember the Christmas Banquet being a really big event which was what the high school—that’s kind of when they did their graduation ceremonies in those days, rather than in June. They had a big formal event at Christmas time.[191]
The whole evening would incorporate elements of many present-day graduation traditions: “a banquet dinner and then we’d have a guest speaker and then they’d have a dance.”[192] When presented with the option of replacing the Christmas formal with a graduation ceremony at the end of the year, Fran Wong recalls the student body opting to keep the Christmas tradition instead:
No, we didn’t have a graduation ceremony. At the time you had to vote whether you wanted a graduation or a Christmas banquet, and usually everyone wanted the Christmas banquet, for some reason, so you didn’t have a graduation.[193]
Consequently, until the seventies, the Christmas formal remained an immensely significant event in the lives of High River students.[194]
There were a variety of means by which students participated in this event. For instance, students worked together to put on the formal: they set up the hall and served the dinner. Norma Denney described how they fundraised and collected fresh spruce for decorations: “They used to decorate and we used to go with a truck and get spruce boughs out in the hills to decorate the hall and go around and collect a little bit of money to buy decorations.”[195] Belf Quon, on the other hand, remembers decorating with pine boughs.[196] Lorna Way remembers putting preparation for the formal above studying for her exams: “you’d have to work so hard and you probably should have been studying but you were down working at the Memorial Centre.”[197] In fact, the students were permitted to use school hours to complete the decorations.[198] Many interviewees remember the grade nine class acting as servers at the dinner while the event was attended by the rest of the high school.[199] Jill Henheffer, however, remembers the grade eleven class serving the dinner. [200] One way or another, the event was clearly a collaborative effort amongst the students and highly anticipated by graduates. Indeed, attendees would dress up to the nines for this important formal celebration: “it was very formal”. [201] Women’s outfits would often be completed with “over-the-elbow long gloves.”[202]
Fourthly, the Memorial Centre is significant as it adapted to survive through time both through maintenance and by adapting to various needs of the community. The maintenance of the Memorial Centre is evidently important to High River residents. Debra Gardener explained that the people of High River would not hear of tearing down the building when renovations began to prove difficult. [203] Rather, the support of High River residents over the years has assured, and continues to assure, that the Centre has been renovated and redecorated when necessary.[204] Pat Zebedee, for instance, remembers refinishing the floors at the Centre for his first job following high school graduation:
When I got out of high school, I started a job at the—well, when I was in high school I worked at the Memorial Centre for a year. We stripped the floors and re-sanded them and everything, there was four, five of us that did that job.[205]
An additional kitchen was added in 1970 through community support and the main hall was expanded in 2008.[206] Furthermore, the Memorial Centre adapted to various needs within the community: it provided temporary space for the town office, library, and Legion hall until separate locations were organized. Moreover, the Memorial Centre opened its doors to every age bracket from daycare for very young children to the Old-Timer’s club.
Fifthly, the Memorial Centre is significant as it has become a space of national commemoration by hosting yearly Remembrance Day celebrations. The memorial cenotaph was moved in 1953 from 129 3rd Avenue SW to the front of the Memorial Centre, a feat carried out by the local Rotary Club.[207] Bill Holmes said it was an easy decision to move the cenotaph:
The Highwood Memorial Centre [is a] memorial is to the people who served in the World Wars. The cenotaph was built after the First World War and had the names on there of the World War One casualties of the Second World War … they’re listed on a plaque inside the Memorial Centre. So now they’re together in the same area. [208]
The conscious intent to make the Memorial Centre a standing memorial to the contributions of High River veterans is clear. Indeed, the Memorial Centre became the location of successive annual memorial services following the movement of the cenotaph. [209]
Analysis
The analysis of these sites of memory unveiled four insights into the relationship between place and memory: first; each site functioned as symbol of a dimension of High River’s heritage; second, there were two types of “sites of memory” which were either symbolically linked to the distant past or practically linked to the proximal past; third, oral history records demonstrated limited consciousness of the range of a site’s significance; and, finally, “sites of memory” were embedded in community routine.
In the first place, each of the Wales Theatre, the New Look Café, the St. George Hotel, and the Memorial Centre were memorable for different reasons. Respectively, they were significant as a model business, a nucleus of youth culture, a partly respectable and largely rowdy center of recreation and dining, and a “hub” of community life and commemoration. Though these buildings display different qualities, they all appear to fall within Nora’s definition of “sites of memory” as they each symbolize an “element of the memorial heritage of any community.” [210] Indeed, each building functions loosely as a symbol that “signals”[211] qualities which have become part of the High River heritage.
In the second place, this investigation unveils two separate varieties of “sites of memory”: those which were either “manufactured” and those which were “spontaneous.” “Manufactured” sites are locations which were self-consciously constructed as a “site of memory,” like the Memorial Centre’s cenotaph and memorial wall. Similar to Eric Hobsbawm’s concept of “invented traditions,” these sites were symbolic and evoked a sense of distance from the past as their construction signaled an attempt to hold onto something that is lost.[212] Similarly, Dietrich Harth outlined two types of memory which connect individuals into the wider community: those which connect the present to the recent past and those traditional “memory figures” which refer to a more ancient past.[213] Just as intentional places of memorialization connect individuals to the distant past, “spontaneous” sites reflect memories which are proximal to the present.
“Spontaneous” sites of memory are analogous to Nora’s description of “networks of convention and routine”: they are practical instead of ideological.[214] Like “community routines,” these buildings are based on pragmatism.[215] In fact, “spontaneous” sites of memory are those sites that arise to fulfill a practical need, imply continuity with the past, and are flexible to adapt to the needs of the community. The Wales Theatre, the New Look Café, the St. George Hotel, and aspects of the Memorial Centre were each “spontaneous” sites of memory as they grew out of practical need and appeared symbolic in retrospect. For example, the Wales Theatre was not constructed as a memorial to the past. On the contrary, it was built to fulfill a practical purpose: to entertain and enrich local culture. The theatre persisted from the early twentieth century to the present during which time it adapted its services and programs to keep up with changing entertainment and technology trends. The continued existence of these “sites of memory” was contingent on their continued pragmatic function within the community. For instance, the Wales Theatre continued to provide movies and survived while, on the other hand, the St. George Hotel fell into disrepair and, consequently, was replaced with a more practical business: the CIBC. Consequently, if a town wishes to preserve such sites, they might either find a way to make the building continue to provide a pragmatic function through time or, on the other hand, transform the building into a “manufactured” site of memory. For example, High River’s old train station has been converted into the Museum of the Highwood and continues to exist in a central location in High River, despite the decline of the railway.
The third significant conclusion that can be drawn from memories of High River residents concerns the limits of oral history. Oral history reveals more about present symbolism than past symbolism; for, developments in social meaning can alter earlier social meanings attached to events.[216] Each building was described in a manner that fit into the current perceptions of High River heritage. However, aspects of the transcripts hint that there are certain forgotten or unknown meanings connected to these buildings. For example, while explicit stories of the New Look Café evoke an image of 1950s youth culture, another narrative lies beneath the surface: the narrative of the Canadian Chinese diaspora.
In the late nineteenth century with the opening of the railroad, Chinese immigration moved East of British Columbia and, subsequently, founded restaurants which made “Chinese restaurants” a common feature across prairie towns.[217] Lily Cho explained that these restaurants marked a significant moment in Canadian prairie history in the same way as prairie grain elevators served as reminders for this time.[218]
By overlooking this history, the oral history transcripts unveil ambivalence in sites of memory between narrative and location: these sites are not concretely anchored to a single narrative or way of remembering. In the “’The Big Statue of Whoever’: Material Commemoration and Narrative in the Niagara Region,” Russell Johnston and Michael Ripmeester explain that monuments are memorable in themselves, but do not continue to evoke their original narrative once the narrative is forgotten.[219] “Sites of memory” are not external stores of explicit knowledge. Rather, as Arturo Escobar suggests, place is “characterized by openness rather than by a unitary self-identity.”[220] Correspondingly, Maja Mikula notes that the roles performed by physical objects are “contingent and changeable.”[221] Simply, the collective memory privileged by oral histories do not exhaust the meanings of buildings.
Fourthly and finally, the analysis of High River “sites of memory” confirmed a common element between these “sites of memory” beyond their symbolic significance: they each were deeply embedded in community routine. For example, both the New Look Café and the St. George Hotel were instantiated into the community calendar. Likewise, the Wales Theatre housed routines that ran on a weekly and yearly schedule: each week, children came to watch cartoon serials on Saturday afternoons; annually, the Wales theatre hosted a Christmas film that was widely attended while parents finished their Christmas shopping.[222] Conceivably, one of the reasons this routine was maintained for an extended period flowed out its integration into in family life; for, as Jay Winter explains specifically in regards to ritual surrounding manufactured sites of memory, practices are propped up by the involvement of family units.[223] The New Look Café became the regular hangout of teens after school each day. Even those who did not hang out at the New Look knew that the rest of the kids would be there. In the same way, the St. George was the place for working men to meet after work each day. For example, Ed Soderberg remembered that his grandfather walked to St. George bar every day for a drink: “He didn’t move to town until he was 80, but he still walked downtown for a beer every day. He’d go there and have a glass of draught.”[224] Importantly, the Memorial Centre was also deeply connected to community routines: the Rotary Club held its weekly meeting in the Memorial Centre, [225] Teen Town hosted weekly meetings and dances, [226] The Amateur Night was held annually,[227] and the Winter Formal was also held annually.[228] Also, the Memorial Centre participated in yearly symbolic commemoration on Remembrance Day.[229] Debra Gardner remembered that the life of the community was “just oriented around the Memorial Centre in so many ways.” [230]
The connection between ritual and memory has already been established, though most scholars have linked formal “ritual” to these sites rather than “community routines.” In “Social memory and ritual performance,” Rick Peterson argues that physical sites of memory are preserved through “ritual action.” [231] Eric Hobsbawm offers a clue as to why ritual may be a significant factor in the substantiating of these places as symbolically important to the community. He explains that routine does not necessarily involve “significant ritual or symbolic function” but may acquire either over time.[232] After all, over time, routine becomes crystalized and made significant as “emotional resistance to any innovation by people who have become attached [to it].”[233] Grant David Bollmer argues, moreover, that significant community meanings are physically acted out through “embodied movements.” [234] As these discussions revolve around the “embodiment” memory, it is unsurprising that the buildings which have remained significant in the collective memory of High River residents have been sites of routine.
Application
Various insights into sites of memory unfurled through the analysis of High River resident’s oral history interviews. While these “sites of memory” evoked elements of High River’s heritage, the memories of residents to not exhaust the significance which may be attached to the sites. Also, these sites may be divided into either “manufactured” or “spontaneous” sites of memory and, respectively, are preserved primarily either through symbolic or practical significance. Furthermore, it seems that each site has remained a site of memory due to its incorporation of community routine.
Each of these insights may be practically applied to High River’s restoration and memorialization projects. In the first place, residents may consider incorporating the narrative of the Chinese diaspora into community commemoration. Secondly, identifying “sites of memory” as either “manufactured” or “spontaneous” determines whether a building’s symbolic significance or practical significance is more crucial to the building’s survival. Finally, the concept of routinization has practical consequences for the preservation of sites of memory in High River. Since this study suggests that routine supports the preservation of sites of memory, residents could consider incorporating such routines into their own lives or starting new community gathering initiatives. If the site of memory is “spontaneous,” like the Wales Theatre, concerned individuals could plan a community movie club which would meet on a regular basis. Or, if the location is a “manufactured” site of memory, the community could organize further “rituals” around locations to reinforce symbolic meanings. Indeed, High River residents are already setting up these routines. For example, a regular High River walking tour has recently been developed as a way to visit all the murals around town and recollect their meaning.
Conclusion
This paper began by considering any place the community considered memorable as a “site of memory.” As the analysis of the oral history sources progressed, it became clear that these “memorable places” demonstrated various qualities: they were remembered for symbolizing elements ingrained in community heritage, they could be either “manufactured” or “spontaneous” sites of memory, and they were all deeply embedded in community routine. These qualities all have implications for restoration and commemoration projects in High River. However, various questions are left to be answered. For instance, is “routine” a quality specific to built “sites of memory”? Or, do various “sites of memory” embedded in objects and landscapes also participate in community routine? Moreover, while the Wales Theatre, the New Look Café, the St. George Hotel, and the Memorial Centre are currently significant, might there be a way to pinpoint the genesis of these locations as sites of memory? In light of High River’s continuing restoration and commemoration projects, such questions continue to be of interest.
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Newspaper Clip. “President’s Greeting.” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, Friday, September 29, 1978. “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Newspaper Clip. “Rotary Club Organized” High River Times, October 11, 1928. Folder entitled “RF0633.” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Newspaper Clip. “Rotary assists many groups.” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, Friday, September 29, 1978. “RF0633.” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Newspaper Clip. “Rotary Christmas Party: We have the real Santa.” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, Friday, September 29, 1978. “RF0633.” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Newspaper Clip. Folder entitled “The Theatre (High River).” Coll. 3807. Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Newspaper Clip. “We’ve been well fed: Salad in a cement mixer.” High River Rotary: Our 50thAnniversary Bulletin, Friday, September 29, 1978. “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Nora, Pierre. “From Lieux de mémoire to Realms of Memory.” In Lieux de mémoire. English Edition. Web. http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/Joan_of_Arc/OLR/03_PierreNora_LieuxdeMemoire.pdf/
Opp, James and John C. Walsh. “Introduction.” Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada. Edited Opp, James and John C. Walsh. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010.
Petterson, Don. “Local you ballroom dance the night away.” The High River Times, Wednesday, March 16, 2005, 11. Accessed “High River Teen Queen.” “RF0231.” Museum of the Highwood. High River, Alberta.
Perry, Oliver. Interview by Kyle Jantzen. High River United Church, High River, October 2015. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Peterson, Rick. “Social memory and ritual performance.” Journal of Social Archaeology 13, no. 2 (2013): 266-283. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/10.1177/1469605312455768.
Pickersgill, Peter. Interview by Ethan Wiskar. High River, Alberta, October 26, 2015. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Quon, Belford. Interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen. High River, November 7, 2015. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Reid, Robin T. “The History of the Drive-In Movie Theater.” The Smithsonian Magazine, May 27, 2008.
Report. Pat Markley. Break a Leg—Theatre in High River. Folder entitled “The Theatre (High River).” Coll. 3807. Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
Ross, Jim. Interview by Karen Jones. High River United Church, High River, November 5-14, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Rotary Club booklet. “High River Rotary Club: A Short History—1928 to 2010.” “RF0633.” Museum of the Highwood. High River, Alberta.
Rousseau, Corky and Jeanette. August 8, 2016. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Schwartz, Joan M. “Complicating the Picture: Place and Memory between Representation and Reflection.” In Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada. Edited Opp, James and John C. Walsh. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010. Pp. 293-312.
Sheppard, Bert. “Spitzee Days.” Calgary: Printed by John D. McAra.
Soderberg, Ed. Interview by Jim Dokken. December 15, 2015. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
“symbol, v.”. OED Online. March 2018. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.acnuc.talonline.ca/view/Entry/196199?rskey=DuqhYE&result=3&isAdvanced=false (accessed April 23, 2018).
“1965 Teen Queen,” The High River Times, March 25, 1965. Accessed from High River Museum records “High River Teen Queen,” RF0231. Accessed “High River Teen Queen.” “RF0231.” Museum of the Highwood. High River, Alberta.
Thompson, Paul. Voice of the Past. 3rd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Voisey, Paul. High River and the Times: An Alberta Community and Its Weekly Newspaper, 1905-1966. Alberta: The University of Alberta Press, 2004.
Way, Lorna McLean. Interview by Brittany Alonso. High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Winter, Jay. “Sites of Memory and the Shadow of War.” In A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Edited Erll, Astrid, and Ansgar Nϋnning. Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2010. Pp. 61-76.
Zebedee, Len and Pat. Interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen. High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015. “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University.
Notes
[1] “High River: A People First Community,” High River Website.
[2] Paul Voisey, High River and the Times: An Alberta Community and Its Weekly Newspaper, 1905-1966, (Alberta: University of Alberta Press, 2004), 179.
[3] Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 2.
[4] Kyle Jantzen, “’Placing Memory’ Project Description,” Ambrose University History Program.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Joan M. Schwartz, “Complicating the Picture: Place and Memory between Representation and Reflection,” in Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada, ed. James Opp and John C. Walsh. (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010), 294.
[7] Peter Hodgins, “Why Must Halifax Keep Exploding?: English-Canadian Nationalism and the Search for a Usable Disaster,” in Settling and Unsettling Memories: Essays in Canadian Public History, ed. Nicole Neatby and Peter Hodgins, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012), 8; Pim Den Boer, “Loci memoriae—Lieux de mémoire,” in A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies, ed. Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nϋnning, (Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2010), 21.
[8] Pierre Nora, “From Lieux de mémoire to Realms of Memory,” in Lieux de mémoire, English Edition.
[9] Jay Winter, “Sites of Memory and the Shadow of War,” in A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies, ed. Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nϋnning, (Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2010), 61.
[10] Pim Den Boer, “Loci memoriae—Lieux de mémoire,” 20.
[11] James Opp and John C. Walsh, “Introduction,” Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada, ed. James Opp and John Walsh, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010), 5.
[12] James Opp and John C. Walsh, “Introduction,” 4.
[13] Paul Thompson, Voice of the Past, 3rd Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 125; 128.
[14] Ibid, 9.
[15] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, (Calgary: Sandstone Publishing, 1982), 186.
[16] Newspaper Clip, folder entitled “The Theatre (High River),” coll. 3807, Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[17] Newspaper Clip, “The Best of the Times: The War Years,” folder entitled “The Theatre (High River),” coll. 3807, Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[18] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 186; Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” Sunshine Tales, (High River, Alberta: Sunshine Tales Book Committee, 1998), 192.
[19] Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” 192.
[20] Ibid; “King Edward’s Ranch is Near High River,” December 3, 1936, New York Times.
[21] Norm Denney, December 15, 2017, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 6.
[22] Corky and Jeanette Rousseau, August 8, 2016, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 7.
[23] Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 4.
[24] Jim Ross, interview by Karen Jones, High River United Church, High River, November 5-14, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 14
[25] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 3
[26] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 12-13.
[27] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 6.
[28]Barton Brocklebank, July 11, 2017, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 5.
[29] Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 3-4
[30] Ibid; Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 12-13.
[31] Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 12-13.
[32] Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” 192; Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 4.
[33] Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” 192.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Ibid, 193.
[36] Peter Pickersgill, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 15-17
[37] Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 8. See also Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 4
[38] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 9.
[39] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 9.
[40] Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 12-13.
[41] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 15.
[42] Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 2.
[43] Ibid.
[44] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 15.
[45] Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 3.
[46] Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” 192.
[47] Corky and Jeanette Rousseau, August 8, 2016, 9.
[48] Wayne and Jean Moore, December 19, 2017, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 3-4.
[49] Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 2.
[50] Ibid.
[51] Martin Halliwell, American Culture in the 1950s, (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), 147.
[52] Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” 193.
[53] Rafael Gomez, Matt Semansky, and Andre Isakov, Small Business and the City: Transformative Potential of Small-scale \ Entrepreneurship, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division, 2014), 122; 139.
[54] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 13-14.
[55] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 12-13.
[56] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 10-11.
[57] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, 5. See also Ed Soderberg, interview by Jim Dokken, December 15, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 4; Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, 5-6.
[58] Cathy Couey, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2013, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 12.
[59] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 5-6.
[60] Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 12-13.
[61] Cynthia R. Comacchio, The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of a Modern Canada, 1920-1950, Studies in Childhood and Family in Canada, (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006), 131; 162-168; 208.
[62] Robin T. Reid, “The History of the Drive-In Movie Theater,” The Smithsonian Magazine, (May 27, 2008); Earl Lewis, “Earls’ Drive-In Theatre,” 192-193.
[63] Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 12-13.
[64] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 13-14.
[65] Ibid, 54.
[66] Cynthia R. Comacchio, The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of a Modern Canada, 1920-1950, 186.
[67] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 3; Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 3-4.
[68] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 3. See also Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 3.
[69] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 2; Ed Soderberg, interview by Jim Dokken, December 15, 2015, 6; Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 7; Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4.
[70] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 2.
[71] Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4; Corky and Jeanette Rousseau, August 8, 2016, 4; Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 3-4.
[72] Barton Brocklebank, July 11, 2017, 5.
[73] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015,15; Corky and Jeanette Rousseau, August 8, 2016, 8. (See also Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, 3.)
[74] Corky and Jeanette Rousseau, August 8, 2016, 8; Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 3-4.
[75] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 3.
[76] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 2.
[77] Ibid, 3.
[78] Robert Lewis, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 20.
[79] Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, 3. (See also Barton Brocklebank, July 11, 2017, 5.)
[80] Peter Pickersgill, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2015, 15.
[81] Jim Ross, interview by Karen Jones, High River United Church, High River, November 5-14, 2015, 21.
[82] Larry Snodgrass.
[83] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 80.
[84] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “St. George,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta.
[85] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “St. George.”; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 80.
[86] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 80-81.
[87] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 13.
[88] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “St. George.”
[89] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 28. (See also Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, 13.
[90] Paul Voisey, High River and the Times: An Alberta Community and Its Weekly Newspaper, 179.
[91] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 15.
[92] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 15.
[93] Bert Sheppard, “Spitzee Days,” (Calgary: Printed by John D. McAra), 181.
[94] Ibid.
[95] Ibid.
[96] Ibid, 178-179.
[97] Ibid.
[98] Cathy Couey, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2013, 19.
[99] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 15.
[100] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 15.
[101] Ibid.
[102] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 15.
[103] Belford Quon, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River, November 7, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 8. See also Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 14.
[104] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 15.
[105] Lillian Knupp, “Heritage on the Highwood,” (High River, Alberta: Highwood Heritage Books, 1986), 30.
[106] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 11.
[107] Cathy Couey, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2013, 19.
[108] Corky and Jeanette Rousseau, August 8, 2016, 2.
[109] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “St. George,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 80; Larry Snodgrass, 3.
[110] Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 22. See also Cathy Couey, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2013, 8.
[111] Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 22. See also Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6.
[112] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 10. See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 12.
[113]Cathy Couey, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2013, 8. See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4; Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6; Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6; Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 10.
[114] Barton Brocklebank, July 11, 2017, 4; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 129.
[115] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 129.
[116] Ibid, 129. See also Barton Brocklebank, July 11, 2017, 4.
[117] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 129.
[118] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 129; Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta. See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 2.
[119] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta.
[120] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130.
[121] Ibid.
[122] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4; Lillian Knup, “Highwood Centre: History,” The Highwood Centre Website.
[123] Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4. See also Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 7-8; Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 2; Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6.
[124] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 4.
[125] Maureen McManus, “Aviation in High River has ‘an immense history’,” High River Times, (Tuesday, August 10, 1990), 3.
[126] Lillian Knupp, Twigs, Highwood Heritage Books, 71.
[127] “Maureen McManus, “Aviation in High River has ‘an immense history’,” 3. (See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 2)
[128] Lillian Knup, “Highwood Centre: History,” The Highwood Centre Website.
[129] “Historic Murals,” High River Website.
[130] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta. See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4.
[131] Lillian Knup, “Highwood Centre: History,” The Highwood Centre Website.
[132]Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta.
[133] Lillian Knup, “Highwood Centre: History,” The Highwood Centre Website.
[134] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta.
[135] Newspaper Clip, “Rotary Club Organized” High River Times, (October 11, 1928), folder entitled “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 167. See also Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 8.
[136] Newspaper Clip, “President’s Greeting,” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, (Friday September 29, 1978), “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[137] Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, 12. See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 7; Newspaper Clip, “We’ve been well fed: Salad in a cement mixer,” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, (Friday September 29, 1978), “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[138] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130. See also Newspaper Clip, “We’ve been well fed: Salad in a cement mixer,” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin; Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 17.
[139] Doug Ellis, August 2, 2016, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University. See also Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 8-9.
[140] Rotary Club booklet, “High River Rotary Club: A Short History – 1928 to 2010,” “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta; Newspaper Clip, “Rotary assists many groups,” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, (Friday September 29, 1978), “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta. Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 168. See also Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 8-9; Ed Soderberg, interview by Jim Dokken, December 15, 2015, 15; Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 15.
[141] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 10-11.
[142] Deb Gardner, 8-9. See also Peter Pickersgill, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2015, 11; Barton Brocklebank, July 11, 2017, 11; Celia Penman, 12., Larry Snodgrass, 1.
[143] Newspaper Clip, “Rotary Christmas Party: We have the real Santa,” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, (Friday September 29, 1978), “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 170; Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 7-8.
[144] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 7-8. See also Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, 13.
[145] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6. See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 7; Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 7-8, Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 9; Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 21; Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, 12; 14.
[146] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130; (See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3; Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 12; Jim L. 6; Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4; Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4, Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 5; Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, 7-8; Gloria et al, 19); Holmes, Bill. “It All Began with a Boom.” The High River Times. June 25, 1981. Accessed “High River Teen Queen.” “RF0231.” Museum of the Highwood. High River, Alberta.
[147] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130. See also Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6; Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4; Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4; Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 5.
[148] Cynthia R. Comacchio, The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of a Modern Canada, 1920-1950, 206.
[149] Cynthia R. Comacchio, The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of a Modern Canada, 1920-1950, 206.
[150] Don Petterson, “Local you ballroom dance the night away,” The High River Times, (Wednesday, March 16, 2005), Accessed “High River Teen Queen,” “RF0231,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[151] Cynthia R. Comacchio, The Dominion of Youth: Adolescence and the Making of a Modern Canada, 1920-1950, 206.
[152] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 171. See also Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, 7-8; Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 19; Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 5.
[153] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4.
[154] Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4.
[155] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 171. See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 12; Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 19.
[156] “1965 Teen Queen,” The High River Times, (March 25, 1965), from High River Museum records “High River Teen Queen,” “RF0231,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[157] Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 5.
[158] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6. See also Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 5.
[159] Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[160] Cathy Couey, interview by Ethan Wiskar, High River, Alberta, October 26, 2013, 8.
[161] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 171.
[162] Lillian Knup, “Highwood Centre: History,” The Highwood Centre Website; Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta; Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4.
[163] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 174.
[164] Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 22.
[165] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 174.
[166] Ibid.
[167] Dick and Shirley Liddell, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 17
[168] Wayne and Jean Moore, December 19, 2017, 2. See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4.
[169] Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6.
[170] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 7-8
[171] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 7-8
[172] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 2. See also Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 2.
[173] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 8-9.
[174] Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[175] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4; Report, Pat Markley, Break a Leg – Theatre in High River, folder entitled “The Theatre (High River),” coll. 3807, Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[176] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 14. See also Belford Quon, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River, November 7, 2015, 9.
[177] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 17.
[178] Belford Quon, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River, November 7, 2015, 9.
[179] Lillian Knup, “Highwood Centre: History,” The Highwood Centre Website.
[180] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 164; 130; See also Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6.
[181] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 7. See also Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 18; Doug Ellis, August 2, 2016, 11., Oliver Perry, interview by Kyle Jantzen, High River United Church, High River, October 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 6.
[182] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 164.
[183] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 7-8.
[184] Norm Denney, December 15, 2017, 1.
[185] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4; Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6.
[186] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130; 181.
[187] Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[188] Belford Quon, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River, November 7, 2015, 8.
[189] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 22-23.
[190] Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 3. See also Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 8-9.
[191] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 8-9. See also Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 23; Wayne and Jean Moore, December 19, 2017, 1-2; Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 19-20; Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6; Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 7.
[192] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 22-23.
[193] Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 19.
[194] Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[195] Norm Denney, December 15, 2017, 9.
[196] Belford Quon, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River, November 7, 2015, 8.
[197] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 23. See also Wayne and Jean Moore, December 19, 2017, 1-2; Norm Denney, December 15, 2017, 9.
[198] Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 19-20.
[199] Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 23. See also Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 19-20., Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 21; Wayne and Jean Moore, December 19, 2017, 1-2; Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 23.
[200] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 9.
[201] Ibid, 8-9. See also Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 22-23.
[202] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 8-9.
[203] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 10.
[204] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 131; Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell, High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 7-8; Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 2.
[205] Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, “Placing Memory in High River’s Built Environment” Oral History Project, Ambrose University, 18-19.
[206] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130-131; Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta.
[207] Commercial Records (Red Binder), “Highwood Memorial Centre,” Highwood Museum, High River, Alberta; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 169.
[208] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3.
[209] Ibid, 3-4.
[210] Pierre Nora, “From Lieux de mémoire to Realms of Memory,” in Lieux de mémoire, English Edition.
[211] “symbol, v.,” OED Online, March 2018, Oxford University Press.
[212] “Introduction,” Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada, ed. James Opp and John C. Walsh, (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010), 5.
[213] Dietrich Harth, “The Invention of Cultural Memory,” in A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies, ed. Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nϋnning, (Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2010), 86.
[214] Eric Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” in The Invention of Tradition, ed. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, (2012), 3-4.
[215] Ibid, 3-4.
[216] Paul Thompson, Voice of the Past, 129.
[217] Lily Cho, Eating Chinese: Culture on the Menu in Small Town Canada, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division, 2010), 4-5; 8.
[218] Ibid, 4.
[219] Russell Johnston and Michael Ripmeester, “’That Big Statue of Whoever’: Material Commemoration and narrative in the Niagara Region,” 153.
[220] Arrturo Escobar Russell quoted in Johnston and Michael Ripmeester, “’That Big Statue of Whoever’: Material Commemoration and narrative in the Niagara Region,” 132.
[221] Maja Mikula, “Vernacular museum: communal bonding and ritual memory transfer among displaced Communities,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 21, no. 8 (2015): 762.
[222] Jill Henheffer, interview by Mary Chadney, High River, March 3, 2016, 6; Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 13-14; Len and Pat Zebedee, interview by Kaitlin Vanderveen, High River United Church, High River, November 23, 2015, 12-13; Lorna McLean Way, interview by Brittany Alonso, High River United Church, High River, November 1, 2015, 10-11; Ed Soderberg, interview by Jim Dokken, December 15, 2015, 4.
[223] Jay Winter, “Sites of Memory and the Shadow of War,” 72.
[224] Ed Soderberg, interview by Jim Dokken, December 15, 2015, 13.
[225] Jackie and Ralph Nelson, interview by Jim Dokken, January 9, 2016, 12. (See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 7); Newspaper Clip, “We’ve been well fed: Salad in a cement mixer,” High River Rotary: Our 50th Anniversary Bulletin, (Friday September 29, 1978), “RF0633,” Museum of the Highwood, High River, Alberta.
[226] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4, Eldon Couey, interview by Caleb Hildenbrandt, High River United Church, High River, October 26, 2015, 4; Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 171. See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 12; Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 19; Jim Lewis, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, November 15-20, 2015, 6; Lorne Harris, Ann Harris, and Patty McPherson, interview by Mary, May 14, 2016, 5; Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[227] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 2. See also Gloria Lundberg, Geri Hobbes, Russell Wong and Fran Wong, December 14, 2017, 2; Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[228] Lillian Knupp, Life and Legends: A History of the Town of High River, 130, 181; Elaine Mason, May 30, 2016, 6.
[229] Bill Holmes, interview by Roland Weisbrot, High River, Alberta, October 17, 2015, 3-4.
[230] Deb Gardiner, interview by Daniel Randell. High River United Church, High River, December 2015, 10. See also Connie Jewell, interview by Ruthanne Williams, High River United Church, High River, October 17, 2015, 12.
[231] Rick Peterson, “Social memory and ritual performance,” Journal of Social Archaeology 13, no. 2 (2013): 279.
[232] Eric Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Traditions,” 3.
[233] Ibid.
[234] Grant David Bollmer, “Virtuality in systems of memory: Toward an ontology of collective memory, ritual, and the technological.” Memory Studies 4, no. 4 (2011): 450.