Subsections of the display are titled Coal Mines and Railways, Early Industry, Wet Your Whistle, Civically Speaking, Where Prostitutes and Communists Meet? and Recent Developments. (Photo: City of Lethbridge)

By Sarah Jones

Lethbridge reflects on rich history through new interpretive sign downtown

Feb 22, 2023 | 12:38 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The City of Lethbridge is reflecting on its long history through a new interpretive sign in downtown.

Stationed on the north side of 2 Avenue South, just east of 3 Street South beside the Scotiabank parking lot, several information panels have been erected to showcase the various operations that once ran in the area.

When Scotiabank was re-developing the lot in 2015, its application included the creation of a stand-alone historical display, which, eight years later, has been incorporated into the brick retaining wall.

“Black Diamonds, Blue Collars and Red Lights” was funded and produced by the City of Lethbridge’s Heart of Our City Committee, Historic Places Advisory Committee and the Lethbridge Historical Society.

Senior Community Planner, Ross Kilgour, said, “This project was a great collaboration with a common goal of properly documenting and showcasing several important early pieces of Downtown Lethbridge history. This specific focus area really was an industrial catalyst and hub of the city for many decades.”

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Subsections of the display are titled Coal Mines and Railways, Early Industry, Wet Your Whistle, Civically Speaking, Where Prostitutes and Communists Meet?, and Recent Developments.

Belinda Crowson, a Lethbridge City Councillor and president of the Lethbridge Historical Society, explained, “With the redevelopment of the area, we did not want the history of the area to be lost.”

“Lethbridge’s beginnings as a city were based around the coal industry,” said Crowson. “The earliest mines were small ones in the river valley, with tunnels dug directly into the sides of the coulees. From 1888 to 1897, the first large mine, Galt No. 1, operated just north of this site before being replaced with larger mines.”

In 2015, when Scotiabank was re-developing the lot, its application included the creation of a stand-alone historical display. (Photo: City of Lethbridge)

The rapid expansion of Lethbridge, as detailed in the signs, is a direct correlation of the creation of railways to transport coal, the Sick’s Brewery, which became the largest brewing company in western Canada and the second largest in Canada in 1928, and the bustling downtown, which was home to several hotels, municipal buildings and restaurants.

Crowson went on, “The coal miners and labourers, of course, needed places to eat and relax, while visitors required a place to stay. So, various hotels and restaurants – such as the Queens, Windsor, Arlington, Castle, Cosmopolitan and Cecil – operated in this area, providing reasonably-priced rooms, great food and a place to share a drink after a long workday.”

Around the 1920s, Lethbridge’s red light district, also known as the Segregated Area, moved to 3 Avenue and 3 Street South where it remained until the 1940s.

Crowson explained, “Religious temperance and other groups worked to close the brothels. However, while prostitution was illegal, convictions were difficult to obtain and the unofficial tolerance of some members of the community allowed the brothels to operate in relative security.”

“The provincial government ordered the City of Lethbridge to close down the red light district in the 1940s or face having the city police replaced by the RCMP. The district closed around 1944,” she added.

While the city’s downtown core has a rich and storied history, Crowson believes this is just one way to look forward to the new stories being written for this area of Lethbridge.

Read more at Lethbridge News Now.