![\"Jasper](\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Aerial3-Jasper-Avenue-compressed.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nIn the 19th Century, 97 Street and Jasper Avenue began to develop as the centre of town. It started out with just a few wooden, false-fronted stores, but then brick, steel and concrete started becoming the average building materials for new developments along the Avenue.<\/p>\n
Downtown Edmonton, ca. 1909<\/h2>\n
Edmonton’s bustling downtown core nine years into the 20th century. At that time, The Big E was home to an estimated 23,000 people. Over the next 105 years, the population swelled to\u00a0877,926,\u00a0according to the 2014 municipal census<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Cree name for the Saskatchewan River was “Kisiskatchewanisipi,” meaning “swift-flowing river.” Over time, this word was shortened to Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n The above photo was taken from the historic Hudson’s Bay building along\u00a0Jasper Avenue between\u00a0102nd and 103rd streets.\u00a0When the site was first developed in the late\u00a01800s, the original HBC building<\/a> consisted only of a\u00a0single street-level retail floor with living quarters upstairs for the manager, his family and an assistant.<\/p>\n The Hotel Macdonald (the grand-looking building seen in the right-hand side of this postcard) opened its doors in 1915, and will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.<\/p>\n A\u00a0century ago, “Mrs. McC” sent the above postcard to her friend, a Mrs. George Wright of Portland, Oregon, with a note on the back that read: “Dear Friend, I write you a letter a long time ago did you get it. I tow in little trucks. I hope you are all well. Is Mr. W. in the same place. I guess there has been some changes there. We are getting on fine. The baby is well. I have never had any pictures framed but when I do I will send some A Happy New Year. Mrs. McC.”<\/p>\n See those letters painted on the side of the barn in the foreground? J.H. Morris & Co. was a company owned by Joseph Henry Morris, a politician and merchant who came to Edmonton from Ontario in 1896. He said to have been the first person to own a car in the city.<\/p>\n While Lower Canada (Quebec), Upper Canada (Ontario), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were busy celebrating confederation in 1867, Alberta would still have to wait until 1905 to be amalgamated into Canada as a province.<\/p>\n Edmonton\u2019s downtown core was transformed during the 1940s when the city began to bounce back from an economic slump brought on by World War II. The city recovered partly because it became the base of construction for the Alaska highway and partly because oil was discovered at Leduc in 1947.<\/p>\n At the time this photo was taken Edmonton still hadn’t yet been incorporated as a city. It would be one more year before the Town of Edmonton became the City of Edmonton.<\/p>\n The year 1920 saw Edmonton’s population reach 61,045, and by the end of the decade, it had grown to 77,557. That’s a big jump from just 148 in 1878.<\/p>\n The Alberta Legislature Building (identified by the University of Alberta site as the Parliament Building) opened on September 3, 1912, when Edmonton was still a frontier town full of tents and wooden shacks. The first-storey exterior and front steps are made of granite shipped from Vancouver Island, while the rest of the exterior is made of Paskapoo sandstone from the Glenbow Quarry in Calgary.<\/p>\n By the early 1940s, Edmonton was engulfed\u00a0by new urban development and was one of the fastest growing cities in the country.<\/p>\n Edmonton’s Municipal Airport was built in 1929 for $35,000, and was\u00a0considered Canada\u2019s first licensed airfield.<\/p>\n The 2,550-foot long High Level Bridge was constructed between 1910 and 1913 and cost more than $2 million to build. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $42.1 million today.<\/p>\n Travel back as far back as 1867 with these vintage, bird’s-eye view photographs and postcards of Alberta’s capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":123911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11108],"tags":[11166,11105,11131],"coauthors":[10332],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nLow Level Bridge over the Saskatchewan River, date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nEast-facing view of downtown, date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Librarie<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nDowntown Edmonton looking north, date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nDowntown looking north,\u00a0ca. 1910<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nCollege Avenue looking southwest, ca. 1910<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nThe early town of Edmonton looking north, ca. 1867<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nJasper Avenue, ca. 1940<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n103 Street near Jasper Avenue looking northeast, ca. 1903<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nDowntown and Rossdale, date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nThe Alberta Legislature Building, date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nDowntown, ca. 1944<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nMunicipal Airport,\u00a0date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>
\nPhoto: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nHigh Level Bridge,\u00a0date unknown<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Photo: Peel’s Prairie Provinces,<\/a> a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n