Historical Walking Tour Of Bellevue

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1 Records show that permission to construct the Bellevue School was declared on Tuesday, October 31, In 1912 a four-room school was constructed, and student instruction began soon afterwards Bellevue School The school and school yard were situated on the site of the present Turtle Mountain Pharmacy and the Crowsnest Medical Clinic. The Bellevue School district was consolidated with Hillcrest in 1940 and with with Blairmore in The Bellevue School was closed in Bellevue School in 1919, enlarged to include offices and additional classrooms. Historical Walking Tour Of Bellevue Crowsnest Pass Doors Open & Heritage Festival This pamphlet was produced by the Crowsnest Heritage Initiative

2 Bellevue Beautiful View Bellevue received its name when Elise, daughter of the first manager and founder Jules J. Fleutot, expressed her delight with the view on her arrival at the town site. Unlike some of the other communities of the Crowsnest Pass which relied on a single coal mine, Bellevue benefitted from its proximity to several successful mines and, despite setbacks from fire, strikes, mine accidents and fluctuations in the coal market, persisted as a successful community. Following the closure of the Bellevue mine in 1957, the economic realities of the modern world compelled Bellevue to join with other local communities to form the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass in This pamphlet provides some of the rich history of this community, which began in A map of the Bellevue Historical Walking Tour is on the centre page of this pamphlet, with historical information for at each site contained on a black plaque attached to each building. with horse drawn drays, lorries, and taxi service including cutting and hauling of ice from Connelly Lake for the hospital and meat markets. Still further east was the large Southern Hotel and then Barbara and Joseph Rudd s grocery. The Southern Hotel was located on the southwest corner of the bottom of Dairy Road. In 1911 Steve Manahan took over the hotel and in 1912 sold to Billy Evans and Joseph Grafton. A fire in the stables of the Southern Hotel started on the morning of August 28 th, That fire wiped out most of the business section of Bellevue, destroying over twenty buildings on both business streets. Within a week, however, plans were being made for the rebuilding of the Front Street, while the former Main Street was developed as a residential street. Main Street ca.1920 Four years later in 1921 a second fire destroyed the newlyconstructed Johnson and Cousens General Store, the theatre, the Boston Café, the IOOF Hall and the Methodist Church. As a result buildings along old Front Street (now 213 th Street, Bellevue s main street) presently date from the mid-1920s. Fred Wolstenholme was the contractor for many of the buildings constructed after the 1917 and 1921 fires.

3 As Front Street developed, a second business street was being established one street north. Main Street was located on land owned by Robert and Jane Connelly, who were among the first settlers in the Pass. Jane was said to be the first woman to settle in the area. Old Bellevue Main Street before fire of 1917 By 1907 WCC superintendent Charles Emerson had established Bellevue s first hardware store west of the corner of Main Street and Lille Ave that also sold furniture, musical instruments, fancy goods and stationery. To the west of him was George Knowles blacksmith and wheelwright shop. By 1909 the imposing Tom McCutcheon Block housed a drug store, a refreshment parlour, a gent s store, a tailor shop and the Independent Order of Oddfellows hall in the west section, and a café in the east section. Next door Wm Cole Sr. set up Bellevue s first pool room in 1911 which included a cigar store, bowling alley, shooting gallery and barbershop. Beside Cole was an Italian Cooperative where patrons owned shares in the business. The Eagle Block was constructed by Thomas Burnett and appears to have housed a hardware store and a warehouse for his Front Street grocery business. Upstairs provided a lodge hall for the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. Next door, brothers Robert and William Evans established a livery and haulage business French-based West Canadian Collieries Limited began prospecting in the Pass in 1898, and subsequently bought 20,000 acres of land that encompassed the future townsite of Lille to the north, Blairmore to the west and Byron Creek to the south. In 1903 WCC began developing both the rich coal seam conveniently located beside the railway, and the village of Bellevue on the level land above the mine. By August 1905 there were 150 men on the WCC Bellevue payroll and an order went out for 40 houses to be constructed that fall. In 1907 population increased significantly with the opening of Bellevue s second mine by Maple Leaf Collieries southeast of the West Canadian Collieries mine. In 1912 its population grew further when the WCC mine at Lille closed and its employees were shifted to Bellevue and Blairmore mines.

4 Emmerson (left) and Fleutot (right) residences. The Union Bank, circa It is on the original Front Street while businesses behind the bank are on the original Main Street. The first residences were constructed in 1904 for the founder and Managing Director of West Canadian Collieries Jules J Fleutot and Mine Superintendent Charles Emmerson and their families. Both houses were later home to other mine officials. After Fleutot returned to France in 1913 his house was used as the Bellevue Hospital until it was dismantled in the mid 1950s. The Emmerson home is now privately owned. The Bellevue Union Bank was established in 1912 on the corner of Front St. and Lille Ave. Only three businesses escaped the 1917 fire that devastated both business streets. In 1921 the bank again escaped a fire that consumed much of Front Street, and is one of only two surviving original business establishments. In the early 1970s the old bank building became the Bellevue Municipal Offices until amalgamation in The West Canadian Collieries building seen on right was one of three buildings to survive the fire of The community of Bellevue started growing as soon as WCC began developing the mine. By the spring of 1905 the company had a town site surveyed, a water distribution system installed and 40 cottages built. All buildings and residents owned by West Canadian Collieries were built between Front Street and the railway. Prior to 1916 West Canadian Collieries added a fine brick tile structure to the south side of Front Street. The west part was occupied by the Dew Drop Inn and by 1924 was taken over by the British Empire Service League (Royal Canadian Legion). The eastern side was first occupied by the Mercantile Co. Ltd. which became Kerr Bros. General Merchants in 1916 and operated until Sometime after that the Bellevue BESL acquired the property in order to expand the Legion facility.

5 Left to right: Haddad Building, Italian Pool Hall, and P. Burns Co. Ltd. The Haddad Bldg on the southeast corner of Front Street and Maple Avenue housed Haddad Bros. Dry Goods and Evans Bakery in the front and E.C. McDonald Drug Store in the rear. Having survived the fires of both 1917 and 1921, in July 1922 fire finally destroyed the building which by then housed Sadd s Dry Goods (front section) and Martell s Barber Shop (rear section). It was replaced by Emmerson s Hardware, later Evan s Hardware and Nunn s Hardware. By 1916 Giacento Santucci had established the Italian Pool Room on Front Street, and by 1922 had sold to his partner s son Antonio Cantalini. The Italian Pool Room was promptly rebuilt after the 1917 and 1921 fires. In 1937 Albert Quintilio changed the name to Albert's Pool Room. Albert was known for his pool skills, and ran the pool room until Phil Hart s 1910 Bellevue Meat Market was among the first in town. In 1912 he sold to P. Burns and Co. which built a new outlet on Front Street in When all but three buildings on Front and Main Streets were burned in 1917, P. Burns and Co. was one of the first to rebuild. It wasn t until 1945 that Henry Zak Sr. bought out the Burns franchise in Bellevue where he continued to operate the butcher shop under the name of Success Meat Market. Dr. Duncan McKenzie arrived possibly in late 1904 and by 1905 had a little hospital build next to his house overlooking the mine works. In 1905 Kate McNab had begun teaching school classes. This row of early homes, just south of Bellevue Arena Memorial Park, includes those owned by John Serra and Dr. McKenzie, and the Bellevue Hospital. Jake Wheeler of Frank (later Hillcrest) and contractors Frayer and Sinclair of Blairmore were responsible for building many of the first commercial buildings on both Front Street (the present main street or 213 Street) and Main Street (212thStreet) one block to the north. Clovis Faure raised his grand Bellevue Hotel on Front Street in 1906, and Burnett and Lang opened a general store to which the Post Office was added on June 15th, Thos. Burnett and Nora Mitchell were the first postmaster and postmistress. By 1910 the Bellevue Café, Lyric Theatre, and Bellevue Mercantile (Felix Montalbetti) were on Front Street. Bellevue Café, Lyric Theatre, Post Office, Burnett and Lang, Bellevue Hotel.

6 Start at the Old Dairy Ice Cream Shoppe on Bellevue s main street, at the corner of 25 th Avenue. Fast strollers can complete the tour in about thirty minutes, but plan for an hour so that you can read each of the black historical plaques on each building. Please respect private property while on this walking tour. Current (previous) uses: Self-guided Historical Walking Tour 1. Old Dairy Ice Cream (Haddad Bldg and Fisher Bros. Garage) 2. Bellevue Post Office (Bellevue Pool Hall) 3. Wild Rose Confectionary (Morabito/Wingy s Shoes) 4. Hugo s Barber Shop (P. Burns, Post Offices and Barber Shop) 5. Private building under development (Brazzoni Building) 6. High Rock Rentals (Coupland Building) 7. Bellecrest Seniors Drop-In Centre ( Doc Barbour Pharmacy) 8. Royal Canadian Legion (West Canadian Collieries Building) 9. Private Residence (Neratko Bldg) 10. Turtle Mountain Pharmacy (Bellevue School) 11. Vacant building (Union Bank white plaque) 12. Bellevue Inn (Bellevue Inn and Kuryluk Bldg) 13. Bellevue Restaurant (closed) (Bellevue Café - yellow plaque) 14. Crowsnest Renovations/Kinga s Hair (Sorrentos/Miners Union Bldg) 15. Second Hand Shop (Post Office/Brazzoni Bldg) 16. Internationale Prayer Centre (Johnson and Cousens Bldg) 17. Tier One Travel (Rex Theatre) 18. Veterinary Clinic/ Pool Hall (nextdoor) (Boston Café/Bakery and IOOF Hall) 19. former Radiator Shop (Wolstenholme and Bellevue Garage)