Feature Article

NAMES OF RED DEER

Written By: Michael Dawe
Published By: Red Deer Express
Article Used with permission. © Copyright Michael Dawe, 2002
2002-09-30

Names of streets, avenues, parks and communities are something which we use continuously every day. However, we rarely stop to ask how it is that this name came about or what it signifies.

Names are used to identify locations and places and therefore are meant to help with direction. Therefore, often the names are descriptive (e.g. South Hill, West Park or Eastview). More often in Red Deer, the names are given to honour a particular individual or family or to commemorate a particular event.

When the hamlet of Red Deer was first developed in November 1890, all the streets and avenues were given names by the Calgary and Edmonton Railway Company and their agents, Osler, Hammond and Nanton of Winnipeg who developed and marketed the townsite. Not surprisingly, almost all of the streets and avenues after the corporate executives and senior officials. Hence, what is now 48th Avenue was originally called Nanton Avenue after Sir Augustus Nanton, head of the land agency firm. Incidentally, the town of Nanton, Alberta is also named after him.

Other names included Holt (51St) Avenue named after Sir Herbert Holt, construction superintendent with the C. & E. Railroad Company and later one of the wealthiest businessmen in Montreal, Quebec. Mann (49th) Street and McKenzie (49th) Avenue were named after Sir Donald Mann and Sir William McKenzie, the two superintendents for the railway contractors and later the founders of the C.N.R. Nicol Kingsmill, the solicitor with the C.&E.; Railroad who negotiated the purchase of rail line right-of-way and the townsites, got what is now 52nd Avenue named after him. Another lawyer, J.A. Munson, got what is now 45th Street named after him and later also got Munson, Alberta named in his honour.

While the intent of the time was to provide a perpetual remembrance in Red Deer for the railroad executives, lawyers and contractors, only one C. &. E. Railroad official’s name continues to this day. That is Sir James Ross for whom Ross Street is named. He was the senior executive in charge of the C.&.E. Railroad Company and because of his leading position with the Company, he got the main thoroughfare, (50th Street) named after him.

Ross had previously been the manager of construction of the mountain division of the main line of the C.P.R. He was also the man who came to Central Alberta in July 1890 with Nicol Kingsmill to negotiate the acquisition of the townsite from a local farmer, Leonard Gaetz. Later on, Ross became an owner of street railway systems in Toronto, Montreal and several American cities. He also became a chief executive officer with the Dominion Iron and Steel Company at Sydney, Nova Scotia.

The main thoroughfare was originally named Ross Avenue, not Ross Street, an anomaly in a system where north-south roadways were called avenues and east-west roads streets. That system itself was a variation of the normal practice in Alberta of having streets run north and south and avenues east and west. Why the C. & E. didn't follow normal practice in both instances is something that has been lost in the mists of time. By 1909, the Town of Red Deer corrected one of the anomalies and changed Ross from an avenue to a street.

Coincidentally, a short time after the Town made this change, Sir James Ross made one last visit to the town he had helped to create. He commented on how dramatically the community had changed from a small hamlet with a few dozen residents to a bustling town of more than 2000. He also commented favourably on the many new brick business blocks, hotels and bank buildings that had been constructed along Ross and the impressive vista the broad street provided when looking east from the C.P.R. Station towards the East Hill.

In short, he was proud of his legacy and the continuing honour which had been bestowed upon him.