Thursday, October 5, 2017

Minburn Moment

As a rule I try to stop in every small town I pass (time permitting), because chances are I'll find something interesting. Maybe not a World's Largest attraction...but chances are that downtown or on 'Railway' there is an old building or 2, or more. Sometimes most of the town is old. Perfect.

One such place I recently visited was Minburn, AB. Place Names of Alberta says that a writer named Mina Burns is the towns namesake. The only thing I could find about her is she was a magazine writer from Ottawa who wrote about Western Canada. Did she visit the area? Did someone realllly admire her writing? They must have been some great articles to get a town named after you....does my blog qualify me to have anything named after me? I'd settle for a park or a lake.

Canadian Northern Railway established a station here in 1905, a post office followed in 1906 and Minburn was incorporated as a Village in 1919. In 2015 Minburn was downgraded to a hamlet. The population was 105 in 2011. To be a Village you need to have 300+ people. The trains still run by Minburn but there is no longer a station on Railway Ave.

I know there are lots of interesting things to discover in Minburn County but I only explored the townsite (hamletsite?) on this visit. On my first pass through town, I saw a couple old homes that had some character. I do believe that they were occupied though, so I didn't take photos.

Here are some things in and just outside of town.


An old thresher and truck

Out of Service
Dead End
I love 'Now & Then' photos. Here is the Minburn Hotel and in 50's. I'm sure it much older but I couldn't find another photo.
On the corner of Railway Ave and 50th St

Photo from www.prairie-towns.com

Hope you enjoyed this Minburn Moment, be sure to stop by a small town today and see what you find!


14 comments:

  1. I like your captions for the old service station and the truck!

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    1. Thanks Debra! If only the truck had made it another few yards to the service station..lol

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  2. I love those little villages/hamlets. The truck in the field is my favourite photo. It is waiting for someone to put the hood down.

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    1. Thanks Marie! I wonder how long it has been there? I love finding old vehicles.

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  3. Nominate a tree for Heritage Tree status and then demand it be named "Jenn's Tree!" Love exploring little towns too.

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    1. I like this idea! I should go see if my Arbour Day tree is still around, that should be my tree automatically!

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  4. It is amazing how many abandoned places you have over there.Beautiful photos.

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    1. Thank you Yael! It seemed like every road I went down last weekend had something abandoned!

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  5. Is that old gas station right in the town? It looks like it is out in a field.

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    1. Hey Glen! It's a block west of the hotel, nothing else around it so it looks to be out of town.

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  6. Just heard today about the school burning down. Apparently arson. Someone has been charged. Fire 🔥 was in 2019. How old was the school 🏫 ?

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    1. Thanks for the comment! I hope to explore around there again soon!

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  7. I live in Minburn, no the school didn't burn down. It was torn down and salvaged after being vacant for years. As for the age I don't know.

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    1. Thanks for the comment, I am glad to see people finding my blog somehow!!

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