Ryan Uytdewilligen with a copy of his book, The History of Lethbridge (Photo courtesy Ryan Uytdewilligen)

By Justin Goulet

Lethbridge author tracks city’s storied history in new book

Jan 17, 2021 | 7:05 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Have you ever wanted to dive deep into the history of Lethbridge?

If so, Ryan Uytdewilligen’s got you covered. The Lethbridge author has written a new book, The History of Lethbridge.

It’s a look at the stories that make up Lethbridge’s past from the coal mining days to how the city was founded and all the way up to present day.

“[There’s] a lot of history based on all of the iconic buildings and structures, like the High Level Bridge and the clocktower, and kind of how they came to be [as well] as a lot of residents who shaped the city and who may have not had their story told before. All of it is found in this book,” Uytdewilligen told LNN.

He said that initially, he wanted to read a book about Lethbridge during the 1960s.

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“That’s sort of an era that everyone gravitates to because there was so much craziness along the world and a [it was] a time of change and I thought, ‘I wonder what Lethbridge was like?’…I could find very little on the subject.”

Uytdewilligen noted his interest in the Baby Boomer Era (1940s to 1970s) as another reason for embarking on this writing excursion.

Around 2015, he started writing a first book focused on the Baby Boomer Era and shopped it around to a few publishers. He found one that was interested in the project but told Uytdewilligen that the book was too short.

The author decided to expand the project and go back to the city’s beginnings and cover developments in Lethbridge up to present day. One useful local resource during his research was the Galt Museum & Archives.

“The Galt Archives is just an amazing place to go, particularly with photographs. I spent countless hours just gazing at photographs from the late 1800s, when you don’t think there would be many photographs of people and the city, but there’s just so much,” said Uytdewilligen.

“Collecting and then picking and choosing the best ones [photos] that I wanted to include in the book was a lot of fun, and then taking quite a few trips to the Galt Museum.”

‘The History of Lethbridge’ by Ryan Uytdewilligen (Photo courtesy Ryan Uytdewilligen)

In addition to flipping through books and pictures, Uytdewilligen spoke with members of the community.

“The book is dedicated to my grandparents, who are in their 80s. They have lots of friends who have also lived their entire lives in Lethbridge,” he remarked.

“I made a lot of phone calls, mostly asking for dates and what they remember to try and paint the picture of where certain buildings or businesses may have existed that I couldn’t quite find the answer to.”

AN ENJOYABLE PROCESS

Uytdewilligen joked that people who have read the book already seem shocked at the amount of research he put into the project.

“They act like it was homework, but it really wasn’t,” he said.

“It was just a delight to read about these people and places that existed over the last 150 years.”

His hope is that readers take away an appreciation for Lethbridge.

“I hope people stop saying to me, when I talk about Lethbridge history, ‘oh really? I didn’t know Lethbridge had a history’. I always get so confused by that statement because Lethbridge has such an interesting history, from the Wild West days and coal mining and then every moment in history, from the World Wars to Prohibition, the Great Depression,” Uytdewilligen said.

“Nothing failed to touch Lethbridge. There [is] just so much history that really shaped this city that you can still see part of it today.”

The History of Lethbridge by Ryan Uytdewilligen is self-published, and the author is currently selling copies himself. His plan is to get it in bookstores later this year.

A copy can be purchased by contacting Uytdewilligen through his Facebook page, by email at ryan.uytdewilligen@yahoo.ca, or by phone at 604-365-7606.