Calder Neighbourhood Memories, 1950s, by Gwen McDonald Halabisky
Date: 1950 to 1959
The area north of the CNR yards and between the St Albert Trail and 113 A St was commonly known as Calder. The hamlet of Calder was annexed to Edmonton in 1917. My parents, John and Velma McDonald brought me home from the Royal Alexander Hospital to a house my dad built on 114 St. There to greet me were my two older sisters, Laura and Jackie. Our brother, John, was born later. Across the lane on 115 St. lived Uncle Albert and Aunt Jesse Surmon and their five children; my cousin Bill was born a year later. My cousin Jeanette still lives there with her husband Jake Helmig.
Until about 1957, 114 St was a dirt road: impassable in spring or during rainy stretches. Although our lane was gravel it was often muddy. Dad built a sidewalk at the edge of Surmon's garden so we could get to the sidewalk on 115 St.. The sidewalks on our four-block route to Calder School were wooden. There is no sound quite like the scrunch of snow on a wooden sidewalk in 30 below weather. Nor can one can get a smoother bike ride than on a two by twelve plank sidewalk.
Where Rosslyn School now is, at the corner of 132 Ave and 113 A St, was the Toner farm. With his teams of horses and wagons, Mr. Toner played an important role in Calder community. In the day he drove the garbage wagon, at night, the "honey-wagon". My cousin, Jim Surmon remembers seeing in the lane behind the outhouses the eerie sight of lanterns and horses and hearing the clang of his shovel as Mr. Toner did the necessary work.
The east end of Calder did not have sewer lines until the growth of the area in the mid-1950's; hence, the need for the "honey-wagon". Not being used to flush toilets, I used the indoor toilets at Calder school with extreme caution. They were triggered with a spring-loaded seat and flushed with gusto as I stood up. I was convinced some article of my clothing would be grabbed and the toilet would somehow capture me.
Across 114 Street was a poplar bush that stretched four blocks. Interrupting the bush at three different locations were a wagon path, a walking path, and the Mitchel house and their approximately one-acre garden and raspberry patch. Mr. Mitchell was the head caretaker at Calder school until he died of cancer at a young age in the early 50's, leaving a wife and four children Winnie, Ed, Bill, and May.
Because we had three lots we had room for chickens and were able to keep them until the rules changed about 1956. Also on our land there was a small one-room house in which Mr. McGarrity, an elderly bachelor, lived. I am not sure what the arrangements were but he may have paid my parents a small stipend to "squat" on our land and have the use of our "out house" and water. Mom would often provide his meals. The Mitchell's had a similar arrangement with a man who lived on their property.
Our bread, milk and ice were delivered daily in horse drawn wagons. Our family got our first fridge when I was about five, which ended the need for ice delivery but also the enjoyment of following the wagon to get any small pieces of ice that fell off. Trucks replaced the horses for the dairy and the bakery in about 1954.
If my mother wanted to take her three girls downtown to visit Granny McDonald she would have to take us a mile to the Street Car turn-around at 119 St and 127Ave. She would probably stop at Grandma Whitson's house on the way. Buses replaced the streetcar in the early 50's. The number 4 bus, often driven by Mr. Fearn, would come from Inglewood, through Calder, and up to the Spruce Avenue district. It was often delayed by a train at the CNR tracks on 127 St. and 97 St. In my minds eye I can still see the hoboes sitting with legs dangling out of the boxcars as the train moved by the crossing. Underpasses were built at these crossings in the early 1960's.
In the business district of Calder one could find Trapko's Hardware Store, from which Mom bought my Radio Flyer wagon and many boxes of Calcimine paint. Also there, not more than a few blocks from Dr. Cameron's home office was Mr McClelland's drug store. Close by were the Calder lumberyard, where my Grandpa Whitson worked, Mr. Wilcox's barber shop, Mr. Tretiuk's shoe repair, Orbeck's grocery, and the competing Shop Easy grocery run by Rose and Andy. One can not forget Quallie's dry good store where the ever patient Mrs. Quallie waited for small children to make their penny candy purchases or share in their excitement as they chose Christmas presents. It was common knowledge that if Mrs. Quallie saw a child crying while going by her store she would bring them in for consolation and an ice-cream cone.
Because the CNR somewhat segregated Calder from the rest of Edmonton, living there was much like living in a small town. Many of the fathers worked for the CNR. As with other families we had relatives living close by, maternally, the Norgrens and Grandma and Grandpa Whitson, paternally, the Surmon and Jim Mc Donald families. Many of the children who went to school at Calder or St. Edmonds had parents or sometimes grandparents who had attended the schools and many married fellow Calder residents. Some of these were: Hazel Chappell and Ben Hanson, Maxine Foster and Bob Woodward, Marion Bell and Roy Brown, Eileen Lindberg and Mike Romano, and Fran Rysiuk and Bob Graham. Calder was a place where one felt protected and watched and where everyone knew your name. I fondly remember the Calder district of Edmonton as home for my first 19 years.