Chsteremere Historical Foundation’s Jen Peddlesden spoke about how Chestermere Lake came to be.
Peddlesden’s talk was the second in a series presented by the Historical Foundation. The first talk was held in October and focused on the early settlers.
“Those would be the people who came through right after the railroad came through,” she said.
Peddlesden’s talk focused on how the Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway and Western Irrigation District led to the creation of the lake and the response to it by the surrounding populations.
“I took the history…from about the turn of the century, 1906 when the dam was built to about 1958 when people started to build cabins around the lake,” said Peddlesden.
The history ties into the current day goal of being Alberta’s oasis.
“That’s why it became very popular because it was a very special place in this dry prairie for people to come and enjoy relatively clean water…in a beautiful lake,” she said.
With 13 people in attendance, Peddlesden is happy with how the talk went.
In addition to her talk, the foundation received a donation of the Chestermere Store Rowboat Races trophy.
The trophy was donated by Robert Walker, grandson of George Walker who owned the trophy. George Walker moved to Calgary in the 1920s from Newfoundland.
With is maritime background George Walker always came out to compete in the Chestermere Store Rowboat Races. He always won.
The presentation series is part of the foundation’s mandate to educate the public about Chestermere’s history.
“It gives people a perspective of how unique Chestermere is even though we are a bedroom community of Calgary,” she said.
“We’re trying to create our own image,” said Peddlesden, “and we feel this helps.”
Up next in the series will be a presentation on Feb. 21 about the early cabin owners around the lake.
“Mostly focusing on the early times of the 50s, 60s, and 70s when Chestermere was really booming as a place to have a cabin,” said Peddlesden.
The final talk is scheduled for March 21 and will cover how the railroad has influenced the settlement of Chestermere and area.
The topic will cover the CP rail line, The Canadian Northern Rail line and the planned but never built Calgary suburban railway.
“[It] was planned and never built back in the land boom in the early 1910s,” she said.
Both the remaining talks will be held at the Chestermere Public Library at 7:30 p.m.
The foundation is also looking to add two more talks after that to cover the wildlife in the region and the history of sailing.
“We haven’t got the speakers arranged for that,” she said.
For more information on Chestermere’s history go to the foundations new website, www.chestermerehistoricalfoundation.org.
