Medicine Hat: December 2011

We've seen many things come and go in Medicine Hat. Some wonderful and some we've come through all the wiser. Here are some highlights of the past few years that I remember.

This building was called the Central Block. In the 1960's it was owned by Adolph Dederer. Upstairs were apartments that were taken care of by a Mrs. Knight. It was one of the best built buildings in the City. A historic building that came to it's end around August 26 or 27th 2007 by arsonists. It burned twice before it came down.

The main floor (left) used to be Havards Shoe Store owned by Mrs. Clara (Dederer) Gargett. There you had the black patent shoes, the Buster Browns, Penny Loafers, Suedes of all colors, Slingbacks, go-go boots, etc. Most all leather shoes with arch support which seems hard to find these days. Clara would say, never buy a shoe that doesn't bend in the middle! The center door lead to the hairdressers in the back. The Right side store was the Boutique Helene with high fashion clothes, also owned by Mrs. Clara (Dederer) Gargett. Late 1960's she sold the two stores to Mrs. Jerrine Middleton nee McWilliams who converted the two stores into one and called them Havards Boutique Helene. Thriving businesses back in the 1960's and '70's. In the basement used to be a 10 pin bowling alley, a pool hall, a night club, and at the time it burned mostly storage for the present owner who had the building torn down instead of fixing it after the fire. A great loss of a historical building for all of us in Medicine Hat.

This tragedy occurred around 2 am September 26 or 27 2007 a month after the Central Block burned. The store you are looking at is what was left of Middleton's Bookstore. I remember this store used to be a paint store and hobby shop that sold Big Daddy Roth model cars back in the 1960's. To the left used to be Reinharts Restaurant. After it closed it was attempted by several people to make it a restaurant again. The 4th last to try was The New Pun Jab restaurant which according to it's owners telling me it wasn't doing very good business. The fire started in the restaurant.

There was nothing left of the 3rd Street SE stores, a complete incineration. The other businesses that burned down were a beautiful Wedding Shop and a Tile Shop on the South Railway SE side. The Bride's that were getting married that weekend were also devastated, as they lost their precious Wedding Dresses.

The center back of this picture is where there was a beautiful 24 year old yellow headed Amazon Parrot named Crunch who lost his life in this fire. This tragedy was 1/2 a block from the Central Block fire.

Storms are normal around here. We've seen some incredible cloud formations over the years and experienced some spectacular weather. This storm took out many trees.

This tree came down on the SE hill. Lots of rain and hail.

This one came down in Ross Glen area effecting two homes.

It passed through Medicine Hat and headed it's wrath into Saskatchewan.

This was what happened during another storm we had. I walked past here everyday to go to and from work. This day a customer came late into my store and delayed me from walking home that day at the regular time. The hail that day was amazing. The only way you could get over to the flats area was to walk, as all roads were flooded. This business, Ebel's Autobody took a hard hit and collapsed during the storm. If I had walked home at the time I usually did, it probably would have me under that rubble. I remember being greatful to the customer that delayed me from leaving. He had done a book rescue and brought in some amazing old Sci fi for me to look over.