Alberta Culture approved a $17,400 Alberta Historical Resources Foundation grant for work on the Union Bank building in Fort Macleod.
Alberta Culture approved a $17,400 Alberta Historical Resources Foundation grant for work on the Union Bank building in Fort Macleod.
A Fort Macleod building owner is among recipients of 58 grants awarded by Alberta Culture through the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation.
Gary Temoin received a $17,400 historic resource conservation grant for the Union Bank Building at the corner of Second Avenue and Red Crow Blvd.
“The returns on investing in heritage preservation are knowledge and awareness of our past, pride in our communities today and economic growth for a strong future,” Culture Minister Heather Klimchuk said. “Culture matters to Albertans and an Alberta built for the future is one that honours its past.”
Alberta Culture recently awarded $1.03-million to support community heritage preservation and conservation projects across the province.
Grants were awarded to individuals, municipalities, nonprofit organizations and businesses to support a range of heritage preservation projects from conservation of designated historic buildings to research projects, publications and heritage inventories.
As Macleod developed into the commercial center of a large ranching and farming hinterland following the arrival of the North West Mounted Police in 1874, the community’s need for financial institutions became more pressing.
In 1897, the Union Bank of Canada opened the first major bank in Macleod and three years later, moved into a new two-storey brick building built by David J. Grier, a former Northwest Mounted Police officer who had established himself as a prosperous rancher and entrepreneur.
The first brick structure to be constructed in the downtown core, the Union Bank suggested a secure and solid permanence of the community.
Alberta Culture said the Union Bank is a rare Alberta example of the Second Empire architectural style with its third storey mansard roof and iron cresting.
The Crowsnest Heritage Initiative Society received a $2,130 heritage awareness grant for the Hillcrest Mine Disaster Memorial Signage Project at Blairmore.
The money will be used to help with the installation of a new interpretive panel and sign at the entrance of Hillcrest cemetery, a provincial historic resource.
