Then & Now Canada Post Office, 13A Perron Street, St. Albert.
ST. ALBERT’S POST OFFICE THEN & NOW
FOR MOST OF St. Albert’s history,
if you wanted to get in contact with anyone outside of the community, you would have to write them a letter. A nd that meant a trip to the post office. Today, there are many more options available, but the city’s postal service still plays a vital role in the welfare of the community. The post office itself has seen many changes since it was founded, but over the last 137 years, it has remained devoted to connecting St. Albert’s citizens to their loved ones, both near and far. Here’s a look back at how it all began.
1880s The first post office in St. Albert was established in 1880, by the same group of missionaries who first settled St. Albert 19 years prior. The post office was located within the clergy residences atop Mission Hill and was run by the church. In those days, if you wanted to check your mail, you would have to make your way to the post office to see if anything had arrived for you. This could be a long trek, especially for rural farmers.
1900s In 1906, the St. Albert post office relocated to the Dawson Block, a commercial building 50 T8Nmagazine.com
DID YOU KNOW? The first postmaster of St. Albert was none other than Father Leduc. Since the post office was operated by the town’s oblate missionaries, this made the leader of the mission the de facto postmaster of the town.
St. Albert’s first post office located on Perron Street, 1894. Image Credit: Musée Héritage Museum, St. Albert Historical Society fonds.
that housed a variety of local businesses, including the town’s bank and drugstore. The post office would remain here for the next 22 years, until a fire destroyed the entire building. The responsibility of maintaining the town’s post office would be traded around to different businesses for the next 34 years.
1910s Mail transportation has changed a lot over the last century, first being transported along rivers, then by train and, finally, by truck and
plane. For a brief moment in time, however, St. Albert was home to a unique mail-delivery system that hasn’t been seen before or since. Beginning in the winter of 1910, St. Albert’s mail began to be delivered by moose-drawn carriage. The two postal moose, Pete and Nelly, were owned by W.R. “Buffalo Bill” Day, and they transported mail between the different communities of the region, going as far north as Wabasca and as far south as Edmonton.
