It was a crisp, sunny day much like Thursday. Father Albert Lacombe and Bishop Alexandre TachĂ© were looking around the landscape for a good place to build a new Catholic mission. Lacombe knew this area well and asked his superior what he thought. Standing on the hill overlooking the Sturgeon River, TachĂ© recognized the natural beauty and arability of the land and, thrusting a cut sapling into the snow, proclaimed, “Mon Père, you were right. This site is magnificent!”
That was 149 years ago on Jan. 14, 1861, the day this land became known as the Mission of St. Albert.
On Thursday, the St. Albert Historical Society (SAHS) marked the occasion with a short program of speeches and choir songs at St. Albert Place during which tea and platters of bannock and jam were available for anyone who dropped by. This city is the oldest non-fortified settlement in the province but even as the group talked of the exact moment that the sapling touched the ground, they were also speaking of the future — the city’s sesquicentennial next year.
Just before reading his proclamation of this year’s Founders’ Day, Mayor Nolan Crouse spoke of the importance of the past in guiding our future. “We cannot lose the history. We must continue to do those things that show our children and those who follow that there is history,” he said, praising the SAHS’s efforts as guardians of our past. He added that it is because of their work that there are so many reminders of the city’s heritage. “The community is a museum.”
MusĂ©e HĂ©ritage Museum curator Joanne White said, “That’s one of the things that the heritage sites and the Founders’ Walk project do. We’re trying to bring more history out into the community so people realize when they’re standing in a particular place all of the amazing things that happened there.”
SAHS representative Ray Pinco explained that engaging the public is still important as a reminder of how far the community has come since the beginning. “We’re trying to make as many people aware that there was a point in time when St. Albert the city, the town, the mission was actually founded. People actually lived in this area for millennia but there was a specific point when somebody said, ‘This is the place. This will be called St. Albert.’ We can identify that time and many communities cannot.”
He encouraged people to mark Jan. 14 to 16, 2011 on their calendars as a special edition of Founders’ Day will mark the city’s 150th anniversary.
