Shouldice, Alberta

Last updated

Shouldice
Hamlet
Canada Alberta relief location map - transverse mercator proj.svg
Red pog.svg
Shouldice
Location of Shouldice
Canada relief map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Shouldice
Shouldice (Canada)
Coordinates: 50°43′00″N112°58′26″W / 50.71667°N 112.97389°W / 50.71667; -112.97389
CountryCanada
Province Alberta
Region Southern Alberta
Census division 5
Municipal district Vulcan County
Government
 • Type Unincorporated
 • Governing bodyVulcan County Council
Area
[1]
 • Land19 ha (48 acres)
Population
 (2007) [2]
 • Total
7
Time zone UTC−07:00 (MST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−06:00 (MDT)
Area codes 403, 587, 825

Shouldice is a hamlet in southern Alberta, Canada within Vulcan County. [3]

Contents

Toponymy

The hamlet is named after James Shouldice, rancher and philanthropist who operated a 1,700-acre ranch and farm in the area between 1906 and 1925. [4] [5] [6]

In 1911, Shouldice also gave his name to Shouldice Terrace, a community near Calgary. [7] Postal delivery errors were a frequent problem for residents of both the hamlet of Shouldice and Shouldice Terrace. [8] [9] After the Canadian Post Office refused to grant Shouldice Terrace a post office with the same name as the hamlet, its name was changed to Montgomery in 1943. [10]

Geography

Shouldice is located approximately 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south of Highway 1 and 85 kilometres (53 mi) southeast of Calgary. The hamlet rests along the southwestern border of the Siksika 146 reserve of the Siksika Nation. [11]

The Canada Land Inventory assesses the quality of Shouldice's chernozemic soil to have "moderately severe" limitations for agriculture. [11] [12] It is within the watershed of the Bow River. [11]

Demographics

A population of 7 was recorded for Shouldice in Vulcan County's 2007 municipal census. [2] As of December 2025, the hamlet contains eleven residences. [13]

History

Founding and naming: 1880-1925

From at least the 1880s, lands around the communities later known as Gleichen and Namaka were in use by farmers, who ran individual or syndicated operations. [14] [15] James Shouldice, an Ontario-born agriculturalist who wanted to relocate to Alberta for health reasons, took out an initial five-year lease of 13,000 acres in the Namaka area in 1900. [16] [17] After the lease expired in 1905, he bought 1,700 acres in the region, then purchased the land today known as the hamlet of Shouldice in 1906. [17]

Shouldice's operation, located around 40 kilometres from Namaka, was known as Shouldice Farm by 1910. [18] [19] A locality developed around the farms in the area, leading to the opening of a community hall in 1924 and generating demand for postal services. [20] [21] [22] Local hardware store proprietor John W. McRae and his wife, Peggy, established a post office inside their shop in March 1925 under the name Shouldice, extending the farm's name to the hamlet. [20] [21]

James Shouldice died shortly afterwards in May; he attended to his farm until his death. [23] In June, a Canadian Pacific Railway station opened in Shouldice, facilitating easier crop exports by farmers in the locality. [24] [25] [22] Businesses that opened in Shouldice over the rest of the decade included a hotel, restaurant, and several stores. [22]

Early development: 1926-1943

In the early 20th century, thousands of Doukhobors, a Russian-origin Spiritual Christian sect with strong pacifist beliefs, relocated to Western Canada. [26] Led by their spiritual leader Peter Verigin, they established communes in Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta between 1898 and 1924. [27] Following Verigin's assassination in British Columbia in October 1924, a power struggle emerged between his son and his companion, Anastasia Holoboff, who claimed Verigin had tutored her to succeed him. [27] [28]

In 1926, Holoboff and around 165 of her followers broke away from the wider community to form a new agricultural colony in Shouldice, named the "Lordly Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood". [27] [24] [29] By 1930, the colony established a school, community prayer building, cemetery, and blacksmith in Shouldice. [24] [29] [28] Beginning in 1929, Shouldice received telephone services through Alberta Government Telephones. [22] Owing to the hamlet's development, almost 400 Doukhobors lived near Shouldice as of the 1931 census, representing half of all sect members in Alberta. [29]

Nevertheless, successive crop failures and the economic pressures of the Great Depression prompted most Doukhobors to relocate by the end of the decade, [24] even with the introduction of an irrigation system to Shouldice in the 1930s. [25] Furthermore, in 1938, the colony's communal land was repossessed by the Government of Alberta over unpaid debts. [28] [29] Some Doukhobors stayed in Shouldice to maintain independent farms, [29] and five grain elevators operated in the hamlet by the end of the 1930s, though one was short-lived. [25] [22]

Later 20th century: 1940-2000

Residents of Shouldice were among the Albertans who enlisted to fight for Canada during the Second World War. [22]

Shouldice's school, founded by the Doukhobors and attended by children from all demographics in Shouldice, closed in 1943 due to a shortage of teachers willing to work in the area. [22] Holoboff relocated to Calgary, effectively ending the formal presence of the Lordly Christian Community. [22] A Sunday school opened in 1949, but it relocated to Arrowwood in 1956 after experiencing frequent disruptions due to poor weather. [22]

Two of the hamlet's four grain elevators closed in 1968, [22] followed two years later by Shouldice's post office, which ceased operations in February 1970 due to declining demand and population. [21] The hamlet's final pair of active grain elevators ceased operations in 1978. [22] The next year, Shouldice's community club went dormant due to low membership. [22]

A history of Shouldice and surrounding areas, Furrows of Time, was published by the Arrowwood-Mossleigh Historical Society in 1982. [22] [30]

21st century: 2001-present

In August 2014, Shouldice was recorded as containing ten residences with civic addresses. [31] [32] This rose to eleven by the end of 2025. [13]

Governance and services

Governance

Shouldice is within the jurisdiction of the municipal government of Vulcan County. [11]

Services

In 2022, the provincial and federal governments announced an investment to expand high-speed internet access to Alberta's rural communities, including Shouldice. [33]

As of 2025, Shouldice belongs to the Palliser Regional Division No. 26 public school authority. [11] Mail services are provided from Medicine Hat, [21] and federal police services operate out of Gleichen. [34] The hamlet receives access to electricity via natural gas generation through its membership of the Sunshine Gas Co-Op. [11]

In its July 2025 development plan, Vulcan County announced plans to extend a regional waterline to Shouldice. [11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Vulcan County Municipal Development Plan Bylaw No. 2025-011" (PDF). Vulcan County.
  2. 1 2 "Alberta Population Summary: Alberta's Hamlets Alphabetically, 2010" (PDF). Alberta Population. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Specialized and Rural Municipalities and Their Communities" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. June 3, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  4. ↑ Historical Society, Milo and District (1973). "James Shouldice". Snake Valley: A History of Lake McGregor and Area (1 ed.). Calgary, Alberta: D. W. Friesen & Sons Ltd. p. 498.
  5. ↑ Speirs, Dale (December 1, 2015). "THE POSTAL HISTORY OF CALGARY: PART 2. ANNEXED POST OFFICES". Journal of Alberta Postal History (PDF). Postal History Canada. pp. 22–24.
  6. ↑ "Old Shouldice Residence, Landmark West of City, Will Become Crematorium". The Calgary Daily Herald. September 27, 1937. p. 11.
  7. ↑ White, Stephanie (November 3, 2012). Unbuilt Calgary. Dundurn. p. 114. ISBN   978-1-4597-0331-5.
  8. ↑ Seskus, Tony (December 6, 2011). "Expansion by absorption; Many Calgary neighbourhoods were once vibrant, independent towns with their own identities". Calgary Herald. p. 4.
  9. ↑ Community Association, Montgomery (February 4, 2025). "Montgomery Memories!". MyCalgary. Retrieved November 9, 2025.
  10. ↑ Speirs, Dale (December 1, 2015). "THE POSTAL HISTORY OF CALGARY: PART 2. ANNEXED POST OFFICES". Journal of Alberta Postal History (PDF). Postal History Canada. pp. 22–24.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Vulcan County (2025). Vulcan County Municipal Development Plan (PDF) (1st ed.). Vulcan: Oldman River Regional Services Commission. pp. 20, 68, 77–89.
  12. ↑ Spiess, David (May 5, 2015). "Soil Group Map of Alberta". Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  13. 1 2 Vulcan County Information Services. "Vulcan County Land Ownership Map - Road: TR204". experience.arcgis.com. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Old Namaka Farm is No More". The Calgary Daily Herald - Supplement Section. Vol. 1, no. 5626. June 22, 1929. p. 1.
  15. ↑ Aubrey, Merrily K., ed. (2006). Concise place names of Alberta. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. p. 224. ISBN   978-1-55238-210-3.
  16. ↑ Calgary Public Library (2000). "Home Sweet Heritage Home - Shouldice, James". epe.lac-bac.gc.ca. Retrieved January 17, 2026– via Library and Archives Canada.
  17. 1 2 Karamitsanis, Aphrodite, ed. (1991). Place names of Alberta. University of Calgary Press. p. 111. ISBN   978-0-919813-91-5.
  18. ↑ "Good Crop from Good Farming: Shouldice Farm at Namaka Shows Some Splendid Oats". The Calgary Daily Herald. July 27, 1910. p. 12.
  19. ↑ Alberta Environment and Protected Areas. "GeoDiscover Alberta". geodiscover.alberta.ca. Retrieved January 17, 2026– via Government of Alberta.
  20. 1 2 Government of Alberta. "Shouldice". Alberta Geographical Names Web Map. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  21. 1 2 3 4 Speirs, Dale (March 1, 2025). "Shouldice" (PDF). Journal of Alberta Postal History. 1 (37): 23.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Arrowwood-Mossleigh Historical Society (September 1, 1980). Furrows of time : a history of Arrowwood, Shouldice, Mossleigh and Farrow, 1883-1982. Calgary: Northwest Printing and Lithographing. pp. 39, 75–89, 111, 123, 143–147, 292.
  23. ↑ "JAMES SHOULDICE CALGARY PIONEER, HAS PASSED AWAY: Active in Public Life and Politics for Many Years". The Calgary Daily Herald . May 9, 1925. p. 13.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Kalmakoff, Jonathan J. (May 16, 2020). "The Colony: Anastasia's Village, Shouldice, Alberta". Doukhobor Heritage. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  25. 1 2 3 Gleichen United Church of Women (1973). The Gleichen call : a history of Gleichen and surrounding areas, 1877-1968 (1st ed.). Gleichen History Book Committee. pp. 24–27 – via University of Calgary.
  26. ↑ Rak, Julie (August 22, 2013). "Doukhobors". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  27. 1 2 3 Leonard, David (July 26, 2011). "Doukhobor Prayer Home, Lundbreck". Alberta's Historic Places. Retrieved January 17, 2026– via Alberta Culture.
  28. 1 2 3 Fryer, Harold (1977). Alberta, the pioneer years. Langley, B.C: Stagecoach. p. 126. ISBN   978-0-88983-012-7.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 Wangler, Matthew (June 12, 2019). "Bread, salt and water: the history of Doukhobors in Alberta (Part 2)". Alberta's Historic Places. Retrieved January 17, 2026– via Alberta Culture.
  30. ↑ "Auld Lang Syne". Vulcan Advocate. December 2, 2015. p. 5.
  31. ↑ GIS Technician, Vulcan County (August 1, 2014). "Hamlet Shouldice". vulcancounty.ab.ca. 2941.
  32. ↑ Vulcan County. "Map Room - Hamlet Maps" . Retrieved January 17, 2026.
  33. ↑ Tipper, Stephen (October 4, 2022). "Universal Broadfund Fund investments to improve internet connections in local communities". Vulcan Advocate.
  34. ↑ "Alberta RCMP detachment locations". Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Retrieved January 17, 2026.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.