Erik Backstrom Profile picture
Mar 4 20 tweets 11 min read
Promising news for the Koermann Block on 96 Street: City Council has agreed to sell the site for below market value for affordable housing on the condition that the building is protected as a Municipal Historic Resource. #yegheritage globalnews.ca/news/9520645/e… Photo of the Koermann Block at the corner of 96 Street and 1
Many people are know that Strathcona had a significant German community 100+ yrs ago because aspects of it (e.g. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, K&K Foodliner) still exist, but downtown Edmonton had one too. Here's a map of German families prior to 1914. sites.ualberta.ca/~german/Albert… Map of German households on the east side of Edmonton's down
One of the leaders of this community was Gustave Koermann, editor of the Alberta Herold, a German-language weekly published on Namayo Ave (97 St). Born in Dortmund in 1865, he came to the US in 1881 and ran a German paper in Winnipeg for 15 years before coming to Edmonton. Historic photo of the building in which the Alberta Herold, Masthead from a 1908 edition of the Alberta Herold.
Koermann ran for City Council in 1906 but placed sixth in the race for five alderman seats. List of votes received by aldermanic candidates in Edmonton'
In 1912 Gustave & his wife Ella bought a lot on Kinistino Ave (96 St), whose name reflects the earlier Indigenous title to the land. They built a 2 storey buff brick building that housed Koermann's printing outfit, the Ukrainian Book Store & other businesses plus residents. 1913 fire insurance map showing the newly-built Koermann BloHistoric photo of the Koermann Block.
But economic decline made it hard for the Koermanns to pay their loans and then when WWI started, the paper was deemed to be a subversive publication. The Herold stopped printing in 1915 and the Koermanns lost control of the property a decade later. They died in 1927 & 1932. 1915 Edmonton Journal clipping talking about suspension of pHeadstone for Gustave and Ella Koermann in the Edmonton Ceme
A Winterburn farmer named William Miller who had loaned the Koermanns money ended up as the owner of the building. The Ukrainian Book Store moved to 101 St shortly thereafter. Subsequent commercial tenants included Metal Specialty Co., North West Baking & Canadian Trade Schools. Newpaper clipping from the 1930 containing an advertisement
When Miller got dementia in the late 1940s, the property was sold to a Bulgarian immigrant who was raised in Saskatchewan, where he had changed his named from Slavy Constantinoff to Sim Constant to better fit into Anglo society. Constant renamed the building the Constant Block. Newspaper clipping from 1948 advertising the sale of the Koe
Over time the building became less commercial & more residential. In 1957, the year this air photo was taken, the Constant Block was home to a dept store clerk & his wife, a gas station attendant, a carpenter, a lumber wholesaler, a furnace company employee & several retirees. Photo of list of residents in the Constant Block from the 191957 air photo showing the Constant Block in its neighbourho
Stanley & Suey Tong See, prominent members of Edmonton's Chinese community, bought the building in 1959. Chinese tenants came to predominate. A barbershop was opened in the building in 1985. Photo of Stanley Gee.
The Gees stewarded the building through a challenging period when the surrounding neighbourhood was hollowed out by disinvestment and as parking lots proliferated. This air photo is from 1988. 1988 air photo showing the Koermann Block in its neighbourho
In the midst of this, @FortEdPark built a replica that opened in 1983 to recognize Edmonton's Ukrainian community. Fort Edmonton calls it the Ukrainian Bookstore but its sign mentions the Koermanns. It's one of only two of the park's copies of original, still standing buildings. 1982 Edmonton Journal clipping about a Koermann Block replicPhoto of the Ukrainian Bookstore in Fort Edmonton Park.Photo of the sign on the Ukrainian Bookstore in Fort Edmonto
When Stephen Mandel became mayor, he initiated The Quarters Downtown initiative to revitalize the Boyle Street area. The Quarters planning designated 96 Street as an "Armature" or central focus & identified the Koermann Block as a historic resource worth preserving. Development concept map from The Quarters Downtown Urban DesMap of historical resources contained in The Quarters Downto
Using money from a Community Revitalization Levy, the City rebuilt 96 Street in front of the Koermann Block into a beautiful, pedestrian-friendly street with public art that I really like and green infrastructure features. Photo of the attractively-designed 96 Street Armature.Photo of public art along 96 Street with the Koermann Block
Meanwhile during the pandemic, the City built Kinistinâw Park with its striking red canopy on the east side of the 96 Street kitty-corner from the Koermann Block. Whether or not you think this infrastructure was worth the money, it's clear that it has improved the area's amenity. Drone photo of Kinistinâw Park.Photo of canopy in Kinistinâw Park.
With all this planned & so much vacant land in the area, it boggled my mind that the Artist Quarters project proposed to demo the Koermann Block & incorporate a couple of its facades into a new tower. You couldn't find anywhere else in the area to put it? cbc.ca/news/canada/ed… Rendering of the Artist Quarters tower showing two facades oGoogle Maps air photo showing extensive vacant land in the v
But the Artist Quarters didn't get traction. Now the City is willing to sell the land the Koermann Block occupies for as low as $1 for a development that incorporates affordable housing. Site remediation is required but heritage & affordable housing grants are available. Air photo map showing the property that includes the Koerman
After the City tore down the Mount Royal Hotel next door in 2011, Jack Dong, one of the Koermann Block's last residents, planted a garden on the vacant lot. Being in the garden, 81 year-old Dong said, was the best part of his day. Photo of the Mount Royal Hotel next to the Koermann Block pr2012 Edmonton Journal clipping showing Jack Dong in his temp2012 Edmonton Journal clipping talking about Jack Dong worki
He learned to garden in the 1930s when Japanese occupation caused mass starvation in China. Dong came to Canada in 1951 and worked in Chinese restaurants. "Time goes fast," he said in 2012. 2012 Edmonton Journal clipping talking about Jack Dong learn2012 Edmonton Journal clipping talking about Jack Dong comin
Someone, please honour the time of which Jack Dong spoke and the heritage of a place with so much potential. Photo of the Koermann Block.

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More from @e_backstrom

Jan 27
Tim's tweet prompted me to look into the history of a building on 109 Street I've always wondered about. Why *does* it look like a ruin? #yegheritage #yeghistory
The building appears to have been built in 1911 by the Canadian Locomobile Co. Ltd. Just a few years after the first car arrived in Edmonton in 1904, Canadian Locomobile was selling Hupmobiles & Pathfinders in a crowded auto sales market.
The building took up the entire lot on the corner of Ninth & Victoria (109 St & 100 Ave) and was so large that it was used for boxing matches that outsold smaller venues.
Read 16 tweets
Jan 4
Beautifully-maintained house in Viewpoint. Built in 1916 by Arthur and Annie Foley. The Foleys, originally from Bowmanville, Ontario, moved to Edmonton in 1906-07 when Arthur became Alberta's first poultry superintendent.
At a time before the petrochemical industry, agriculture was the big economic deal in the province, and Arthur was mentioned hundreds of times in Alberta newspapers. ImageImageImage
Arthur appears to have retired about 1930. The Foleys enjoyed their family and a cottage at Alberta Beach before they died within two months of each other in 1943. ImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Dec 29, 2022
The church at 10665 98 Street NW that burned down yesterday connected a fascinating number of Edmonton's religious denominations and cultures.
St. Andrew's Anglican Church was built in 1910 south of Jasper Ave along Alex Taylor Road, where the Valley Vista Apartments are now located. The "little church on the hill" served Anglicans in the Boyle Street neighbourhood. @DioEdm
In 1922, financial difficulties prompted the St. Andrew's parish to merge with the St. Paul's parish in McCauley. The combined parish, renamed St. Stephen's, used the building on 96 St. that had been St. Paul's until 2009. ststephensyeg.ca/about/our-hist…
Read 16 tweets
Nov 1, 2022
There's a 120 year old house in Mill Woods?! Yes, there is. It's the Place place, and it's up for sale. #yeghistory #yegheritage realtor.ca/real-estate/25…
William Place was born in Ogdensburg, NY in 1843. After marrying Lucretia Hill of Morrisburg, ON, the couple moved to Edmonton, where Lucretia's brother lived. In 1902 they bought a farm south of town and promptly replaced its log house with the frame house still standing today.
Here's a picture of the Place children Elzetta and George at the time they lived in the house.
Read 18 tweets
Oct 15, 2022
Century Park timeline
2022: a couple of early risers walking their dogs in a grassy area surrounded by apartments, construction materials & equipment and an empty parking lot next to an LRT station just out of view. Image
2005: architect James Cheng's concept for a walkable, mixed-use, high-density, transit-oriented urban village that wowed planners and helped #yegcc decide to fund extension of the LRT to the site. Image
1981: Heritage Mall opening day with thousands of cars and at least two boys on bicycles. Image
Read 8 tweets
Oct 13, 2022
Thanks for asking! The history of Alexander Circle is more interesting than I imagined.
The circle was part of the original design of the 1911 Glenora subdivision, planned as a focal amenity at the intersection of 33 (later 133) Street & Peace Avenue in an area where the other avenues (Athabasca, Mackenzie) were also named after rivers. Image
Sixteen lots surrounded a park with a diameter of 140 feet. The design is unique in Edmonton and while there are residential circles elsewhere (e.g. The Crescent in Vancouver's Shaughnessy neighbourhood), I can't think of a more formally intimate one. Image
Read 18 tweets

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