We’ve previously visited the interesting street murals in LaCombe, a small city in Alberta located about midway between Edmonton and Calgary.
In addition to its interesting street art, LaCombe has many well-preserved older buildings and its historic district has received national recognition.
The photo below shows the heart of LaCombe in 1908. Many of the buildings in the photo are still standing and there are dozens of other interesting buildings in the historic central core area worth seeing if this sort of thing interests you.
(Downtown LaCombe in 1908, courtesy of the British Library)
One of the more unique buildings in town is the Flatiron Building, which opened in 1904 and was a bank for many years. Today it serves as the Flatiron Museum and Interpretive Center (closed when I visited). It also acts as the town’s Tourist Information Center.
(Flatiron Building, LaCombe)
It’s easy to walk the streets of LaCombe as its a flat and smallish city, and you can enjoy the architecture and ambience, CoVid or not. If the city looks familiar it’s likely because it’s been used in a number of films as an early 20th century backdrop.
Lacombe is named after Albert Lacombe (1827 – 1916), a French-Canadian Roman Catholic missionary. He lived among the Cree and Blackfoot peoples of western Canada and brokered peace between the Cree and Blackfoot tribes.
The first Caucasian living in the area was a retired North-West Mounted Police officer, Mr. Ed Barnett. Mr. Barnett was in the Mountie party who escorted Chief Sitting Bull and his people to the Canada–US border. A community sprang up around Mr. Barnett’s business as friends and settlers began to move to this new settlement that ultimately was named in Father LaCombe’s honor.
The Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in LaCombe in 1891, partially in thanks to Father LaCombe who negotiated its construction through Blackfoot territory. Today agriculture is the dominant industry, although the town has a small significant tourist business.
A few final scenes from the side streets of LaCombe…..
