Erik Backstrom Profile picture
Urban planner, planning historian, family man and faithful Edmontonian
Jul 25 11 tweets 6 min read
Can confirm that the Ortona Armoury is looking good! #yegheritage #yeghistory #yegarts edmonton.taproot.news/briefs/2024/07… Built in 1914 by the Hudson's Bay Company, it was the Amazon Fulfillment Centre of its days: a warehouse with stables for the HBC's delivery horses. Image
May 21 21 tweets 9 min read
The naming history and planning intrigue behind Edmonton's least populous neighbourhood. Image In the 2019 municipal census, Quesnell Heights, tucked between Whitemud Dr & the river, only had 330 residents in 122 residences -- the smallest population of any completed residential neighbourhood in #yeg. The most populous,
Oliver (now Wîhkwêntôwin), had 55 times more: 18,180. Image
Dec 7, 2023 27 tweets 13 min read
"What's in an Edmonton name?" the VARSCONA edition. Image The River Coe drains a beautifully rugged valley in the Scottish Highlands. The Gaelic word for a deep, narrow valley is the origin of the English word "glen" so the community that was established at the mouth of the Coe became known as Glen Coe, or Glencoe. Image
Aug 26, 2023 39 tweets 18 min read
Today is the 100th anniversary of one of the most remarkable buildings in Canada: the Cardston Alberta Temple. To learn more about the architectural and religious significance of this National Historic Site, read on. 🧵 #cdnhistory #abhistory #architecturalhistory #LDSHistory Image Spiritual traditions throughout time have established sacred sites: hills, cathedrals, groves, temples, shrines, etc. For the believer, there is something special about a place to leave behind the ordinary world temporarily to commune with the divine. Photo of Sewu, an eighth century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Central Java, Indonesia. Credit: Crisco 1492 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29788047
Aug 23, 2023 17 tweets 9 min read
Great example of rural sustainability: Glen Park Hall in @LeducCounty celebrated its 90th anniversary this week. Image The hall is located 47 km southwest of downtown Edmonton on Township Road 490, commonly known as the Glen Park Road. It is surrounded by good farmland and is outside Edmonton's commuter shed. Image
Jun 21, 2023 19 tweets 12 min read
The lesbian designer of one of Edmonton's most prestigious neighbourhoods -- and her threatened architecture. #yegplan #yeghistory #yegpride Image Jean Wallbridge was born in Edmonton in 1912 to an affluent lawyer and his wife. Jean was educated at private schools, in Europe & @VictoriaArts. It's safe to assume that she was one of the few young Edmontonians presented at the royal court in London during the Depression. Image
Mar 24, 2023 7 tweets 4 min read
Amazing example of building reuse in Edmonton: La Bosco Bakery & Cafe at 10413 79 Avenue NW. labosco.ca It was originally built in 1953 as a storage garage for Manbro Ltd (was there ever a more testosterone-laden business name?), part of the Manning Lumber companies owned by Percy Manning. At the time Manning Lumber was located between 79 & 80 Aves where the Brooks NOFRILLS now is.
Mar 4, 2023 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
Jan 27, 2023 16 tweets 10 min read
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.
Jan 4, 2023 4 tweets 3 min read
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
Dec 29, 2022 16 tweets 10 min read
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
Nov 1, 2022 18 tweets 7 min read
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.
Oct 15, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read
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
Oct 13, 2022 18 tweets 8 min read
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
Jul 27, 2022 21 tweets 12 min read
What a ring road has to do with the papal visit. Photo of white Fiat containing Pope Francis passing through The Oliver neighbourhood has been a focus for Roman Catholics in Edmonton for 140 years. In addition to Saint-Joachim Church and St. Joseph's Basilica, there's the Archbishop's Palace and the General Hospital, which was founded and run by the Grey Nuns.
Apr 5, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
How the @UAlberta's Cameron Library became a two-skinned building. ImageImage Cameron Library, opened in 1964 and named after former University Librarian Donald Cameron, was designed to be expanded after its bracketing North and South Labs, shown in this 1965 air photo, were demolished. Image
Jan 16, 2022 14 tweets 7 min read
The Tawatinâ Bridge artwork by @GarneauDavid is a dazzling fusion of contemporary and historical Indigenous themes and perspectives. The map-related pieces particularly caught my planning historian eye so here’s a thread about them. The pixelated bison is a map connecting Edmonton with St. Paul. Each pixel is a surveyor’s township. The blue line is the North Saskatchewan and the red line is the former @CNRailway Coronado subdivision.
May 29, 2021 46 tweets 19 min read
How an Edmonton neighbourhood didn't end up being called Grossdale, and got the city's dirtiest name instead. Before World War I there was a real estate boom in Edmonton. Land owners and investors were bringing dozens of speculative subdivisions to market. One on the south side of the river was Grossdale.
Feb 11, 2021 13 tweets 6 min read
POTENTIAL RING HOUSE SOLUTION. Most of us love heritage buildings. Few of us own them. It's easy to love and want to preserve things that someone else is paying for. Right now @UAlberta is facing severe financial challenges due to factors that include... cbc.ca/news/canada/ed… provincial funding cuts. Under these circumstances, with its mission to provide outstanding higher education, it would be irresponsible of the university to plow $4 million into deferred maintenance on the homes that could otherwise improve teaching and research.
Aug 6, 2018 23 tweets 8 min read
The fascinating irony at ground zero of zoning history. #planninghistory After the U.S. Civil War, Cleveland, Ohio boomed industrially. Euclid Avenue was the pinnacle of the city's wealth, with a portion of it known as Millionaires' Row. John D. Rockefeller lived along it for years until he decamped to New York. This is another Euclid Avenue home.