The first homesteaders came to the Millarville Community in wagons, on
horseback, train and buggy. They tried to get together as much as they
could to have fun. They worked hard and they played hard. Here are some
of the dates that we found interesting. There were a lot more but we liked
these ones.
1892 - First post office
- Mail was delivered on horse back.
- Once a week at first.
- The mail man got $200 a year for delivering mail.
- Then it got to be 2 times a week.
- 100 years later it was delivered 4 times a week.
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1887- First Mounted Police
- Looked after all of the land from High River to Calgary.
- Most of the problems were stealing horses, stealing cows and
making illegal alcohol.
- They were very busy.
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1895 -Old Rancher's Hall
- A log building with a wooden stove in the middle to heat the
coffee and the outside benches.
- There were lots of dances.
- Kids got to go to all of the dances.
- There would be a lunch at midnight and the kids would fall asleep.
- Grownups danced all night.
- Sometimes they would stay at a neighbor's house and have breakfast
in the morning.
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1900's- Christ Church
- The land was donated to build this church.
- The furniture came from Europe.
- Before there was a church, the homesteaders would have church
service in someone's home.
- They would always stay after church and visit with their friends.
- There is still church at Christ Church today.
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1909- First Telephone
- First telephones were on a party line.
- Every time you talked about 15 people could listen to what you
said.
- When you wrang your phone an operator would take the plug out
of the board and plug it into another line so you could talk to
the person you wanted to.
- The phones were very big and heavy and hung on the wall.
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1926- General Store
- You could buy lots of rock candy at the store.
- No milk was sold at the store... you got milk from your cow
on the farm.
- No ice cream was sold at the store ...ice cream was made by
milking your cow and then putting milk in an ice cream maker and
then turning the handle for a very long time.
- No juice was sold at the store..you had to make your own from
fruit.
- No videos were sold at the store because there was no electricity.
- Eaton's catalogue was the only magazine for you to read.
- Sometimes homesteaders would make trades because they didn't
have a lot of money to buy things.
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1945- Back's Service Station
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1948 - Kendall Saw Mill
- This was the biggest saw mill in Millarville.
- Horses would pull a wagon full of trees to the saw mill.
- They would chop these trees up with a big sharp saw.
- They would pick up the pieces and put them back into the wagon.
- The homesteader would take the wood to make houses, fences and
barns.
- They would keep their animals safe in the barns away from coyotes
and wolves.
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