City notebook: Out with the old, in with the new
By Collin Gallant on October 13, 2018.
One man’s Ming Tree is another man’s Hitch’n Post Saloon, but, well, it’s a hole in the ground now, not a hole in the wall, and it’s all, in fact, due to a well. If you followed that sentence, you’re probably ahead in the game of keeping track of what’s old and what’s new in Medicine Hat, but also how local landmarks are referenced, or maintain their names over the years. Let’s start at the beginning, or rather the end, of the structure at 210 S. Railway St. Demolition crews are well below grade at the location, ahead of work to better contain an aged natural gas well. The site will never be suitable for another building, barring some future technological advance that could permanently close the wildcat well that was drilled in a basement a century ago. Right now the thinking is parking lot or park would allow best access for future work, if needed. Younger folks know the building as the Hitch’n Post, mainly due to the sign, I think, rather than as a destination. Their parents likely ate at the Ming Tree Restaurant, enjoying Chinese food as all Hell for a basement bubbled away below. Yet another, now passed generation would have recalled the American Hotel, which became the well’s name when the here-to-fore unregistered well was noted in the provincial registry. Down the street, there’s the new Assiniboia Hotel (though no one seems to call in that), itself down the street from the original Assiniboia site, which has twice been remade after major fires. This week also featured a recanting of Medicine Hat’s nine firehalls and the previous and current uses for the buildings. One of the newest “old firehalls” is a barbershop-restaurant-jewelry store combination. But there’s a variety of “news and olds” across town. There’s the new mall, and filed with the prefix of “old” are the Old Walmart, Old Canadian Tire, etc. This fall, a potential rezoning of land near Primrose Drive led one Newsie to ask, “What, you mean over by the old Alamo?” referencing the one time, but long gone Western bar where farm insurance is now obtained. A look ahead Council sits Monday to discuss the major tenets of a public-use cannabis bylaw. Later in the week, city committee will discuss updates to off-site levy rates for land developers. Those are basic cost assumptions, but sure to follow is an evaluation of council’s current practice to cover 40 per cent of those utility servicing new developments and up to 90 per cent in several priority areas. 100 years ago The 14th annual convention of the Alberta Municipalities Association opened at the Oddfellows Hall in Medicine Hat, the News reported on Oct. 10, 1919. Debate at the gather revolved mainly on the challenges faced by housing and employing returning soldiers. A catch-column on local boys at the front noted Capt. Ralph Forster was in charge of five tanks “in the big chase” as the Entente powers made increasing gains on the German lines. Wilbur Cory had passed his aviation examination as would train and Bath, England, but Flight Lieutenant S.L. Rone, formerly a manager of a local foundry, had been killed in a training accident. On the issue of medicinal alcohol, a resolution by the Alberta Medical Association asked the province to restrict prescription volumes of the prohibited substance to eight ounces. Philadelphia ordered all public places closed as the outbreak of flu spread on the Eastern seaboard of North America. Locally, Wellington Bridgman, who was the first Methodist minister to arrive in the Hat in 1883, celebrated his 81st birthday. A new record for largest potatoes in Medicine Hat was set by Mrs. Kane, whose garden on the corner of Yuill St. and Washington Way produced eight spuds that combined weighed 18 pounds. Collin Gallant covers city politics and a variety of topics, including potato yields, apparently, for the News. Reach him at 403-528-5664 or via email at cgallant@medicinehatnews.com 25-24
