The first Lethbridge Post Office was opened I October, 1885.
Although reference to changing the name from Coalhurst to
Lethbridge is found in John D. Higinbotham's When The West
Was Young, after a most extensive search, no proof has yet
come to light that the post office was ever called anything
other than Lethbridge from the day it opened. In August
1910, a shaft was sunk about six miles west of Lethbridge.
The resulting coal mine, called the Imperial Mine, began
producing coal in August, 1911. A post office was opened
there on I September, 1912, with J. J. Beaton as postmaster,
and was named Coalhurst by the Board of Trade. The name
was chosen, according to the 1926 recollections of J. I.
McDermott, because of the coal mine around which the town
was built. The 'hurst' was added to 'Coal' simply to round
out the name and was not made part of the name in
commemoration of any thing, act, or person. The community
was originally named 'Bridgend' according to Mr. McDermott,
because it was not far from the west end of the relatively
new C.P. Rail High Level Bridge. This name the Postal Service
refused to authorize, hence Coalhurst was chosen. In about
1911, the CPR built a railway spur to the Imperial Mine and
called it 'The Colliery Spur'. This was shortened to 'Colliery'
and this name appeared on the early maps. In those days, the
nearest railway station was at Kipp and for years the people of
Coalhurst walked the two miles to Kipp to catch the train. In
1925-26, the Turin Subdivision Spur was moved from Kipp to a
point farther east (to Coalhurst) and the junction was briefly
called 'Partridge'. In October 1927, the name Partridge
disappeared and Coalhurst took its place on CPR timetables.
The reason was that the Station from Kipp was moved to
Coalhurst between October, 1927 and May, 1928. At that time,
Kipp lost all its rail facilities including a passing siding, a
telephone and telegraph office, and the station. The
station had to be turned around as it was on the south side of the
track at Kipp but was to be placed on the north side of the track
at Coalhurst. A temporary spur was built at Kipp and a flatcar
backed under the 'acked-up station. Then it was taken to the
junction to the mine, turned around, then unloaded at Coalhurst.
It is said that Mrs. Hoven, the Stationmaster's wife, sick in bed at
the time, simply stayed where she was and had the dubious honour
of being a passenger in a CPR Station from Kipp to Coalhurst.

The late Chris Gibson was for many years active in the Red Cross
and was an officer in the organization at the time of the Coalhurst
disaster. He was deeply involved in relief operations when the
local Red Cross attempted to do whatever was necessary to help
the families of the dead and injured. Many years ago we spoke with
Mr. Gibson about his memories of the Coalhurst mine explosion
and regret now that we didn't make notes of the conversation.

Recently we were told that Gerald L. Berry, author of the book,
"Whoop-up Trail: Early Days in Alberta-Montana, " taught
school in Coalhurst prior to the book's publication in 1953.
Apparently he worked on the manuscript while in Coalhurst
and there is a story that, during an accidental flooding of the
basement in Berry's residence, part of the manuscript was
destroyed and had to be redone.

By November, 1914, Coalhurst was described as follows:
"Coalhurst is a thriving little village of 1200 inhabitants situated
on the Canadian Pacific Railway. It is two miles east of Kipp
Station. The business portion of the village is represented by
a fine, large 32-room hotel; three general stores; two grocery
stores; one hardware store, one livery, one blacksmith shop;
one meat market, one billiard hall; one moving picture theatre
and dance hall, with a seating capacity of 200; one laundry;
one barber shop; and two restaurants. It also has a fine
$14,000 fourroomed school and two churches . . . The
societies are represented by the Board of Trade, Oddfellows,
and Miner's Union . . . The Canada Coal & Coke Company
has the largest mine located here, with a capacity of 2,000
tons per day. The water facilities are good and the village
is lighted by electricity furnished by the Company at nominal
rates."

George Watson, well-known Lethbridge oldtimer, was
principal of that Coalhurst School from 1919-1925. He
told us that, during this period, the Standard Bank of Canada
was represented in the village; L. G. Thomas was the manager.
Also, there was a drugstore, owned and operated by A. E
Cumming. A group of mine officials and others formed the
habit, during these years, of meeting in the drugstore in the
evening for a game of "500", a popular card game of that
period. The group included Dr. Inkrote (who had a contract
to look after the health of miners at Coalhurst, Carmangay,
Commerce, and Diamond City), George Mellor, Jack Thornhill,
Wilfred Bainbridge, Joe Cash, and, of course, George Watson.
The representative of the Alberta Provincial Police at the time
was a man named McWilliams who had a dog-handler under
him named Shovelton. The mayor of Coalhurst during the
period was J. I. McDermott, still a well-known name in the
Coalhurst region, and the mine manager was Dan Quigley.

The Coalhurst School burned down in February 1920 and,
until a new school was built, classes were badly disrupted.
Two rooms of classes were moved to the Presbyterian
Church and another to the Miner's Library, then located in
a part of Coalhurst called Wiggins. Incidentally, the miner's
union at the time arranged for a check-off, the money to
be spent on special projects involving students. One
such project had as it objective the testing of the eyes
of the children and obtaining of glasses where necessary.
Dr. Woodcock, who later settled in the Turin district,
performed the testing and issued prescriptions.

There was another fire in 1923 when McDonald's Grocery
and Dry Goods store burned to the ground. Volunteers
carried out many of the goods and piled them in the street.
Unfortunately, some looting took place and a fair quantity
of the saved material was lost in this way.

About 1927-28, the C.P.R. station was moved from Kipp to
Coalhurst. Up to that time, it had been necessary for
passengers from Coalhurst to make the two-mile walk from
the village to Kipp in order to catch the train. And
disembarking Coalhurst passengers either had to arrange
to be met or they, too, had to make the long walk home.

The mid-1930's was a time of disaster for Coalhurst, as
it was in different ways for many prairie communities.

There was a bad fire in the business district on December 19,
1934. According to a news report, ". . . a considerable portion
of the business district was destroyed in a devastating fire
during a cold winter night. That evening a large shipment of
Christmas mail had arrived from Europe and many families went
without Yuletide gifts and greetings . . . The post office, pool
hall, and confectionery were destroyed."

Return Coalhurst, Alberta