DOROTHY |
|
|
NAME: Dorothy COUNTY: N/a ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Cold winters, hot summers BEST TIME TO VISIT: From spring to late fall |
COMMENTS:
About a dozen residents still live in the area. There is a small pioneer museum in Dorothy for visitors to browse through REMAINS: Boarded up buildings; old abandoned grain elevator and two abandonedpioneer churches |
The village of Dorothy, which never grew beyond 100 residents, is considered one of Alberta�s classic pioneer communities, serving as a popular social centre in the first half of the 20th century in the heart of the province�s famed Badlands Country.Dorothy is located about 15 miles southeast of Drumheller in a flat valley bottom. A few years after the turn of the 20th century, Percy McBeath, a store keeper living in the immediate area, applied to have a post office and wanted to name the site Percyville. However, the district post office inspector decided instead to name the site Dorothy, after the daughter of Jack Wilson, and early rancher who first arrived in the area in 1900. The Dorothy post office officially opened in 1908.The hamlet grew modestly and enjoyed its greatest prosperity in the late 1920s, shortly after a railway line was built through the area.At one time the village had three elevators, the Alberta Wheat Pool, the Alberta Pacific and the United Grain Growers, a grocery store, a butcher shop, pool room, telephone office, restaurant and a machine agency. A school was opened in 1937 and lasted in the hamlet until 1960. The village also supported two churches � a United Church from 1932 to 1961 and a Roman Catholic church from 1944 to 1967. The two churches were considered the focal point for the entire region�s important social events. They still stand today, but are gradually being withered away by time and the elements.Less than a dozen residents live in the hamlet today. One grain elevator, long closed down, still evades being torn down. A community hall still serves residents of the area. For visitors, there is also a small museum to inspect pieces of the once vibrant lifestyle of this unique part of Alberta. For more information on Dorothy, the curious can also go to Drumheller�s public library and browse through Hazel B. Roen�s book of the area, �The Grass Roots of Dorothy 1895-1970. The 354-page book, published in 1971, offers a touching portrait of the Dorothy region and its people. Submitted by Johnnie Bachusky. Submitted by: Johnnie Bachusky John Percy McBeath was the first Storekeeper and Postmaster and ran the ferry at Dorothy during that time.
|
|
|