Along the south side of Lacombe's 50th Avenue, on either side of 50th Street, are several streets which are aligned at a 45 degree angle to the rest of the city. This was caused by the arrival of the Calgary & Edmonton Railroad, which was later absorbed by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It passed through town at roughly a 45 degree angle to the town's streets. The resulting Railway Street, which at one time was probably the most common street name in Alberta, followed the railway tracks and new streets branched off Railway Street at right angles, meeting the rest of the town at a 45 degree angle. Railway Street is now Highway 2A, BTW.
Railway Street was eventually filled with commercial buildings, this block having the Lacombe Hotel at the near corner and a flatiron, the
Corner Business Block at the far corner. Between the two was, and is, the
A. Urquhart & Company Block, which, due to its unique location in the middle of a triangular block, has identical storefronts on each end of the building.
The Urquhart Block was built in 1907, after the 1906 fire, and the second Corner Business Block (the first destroyed in the 1906 fire) built around the same time. It burned in 1911 and was not rebuilt until 1928. As a result, we'd have to say that the "Then" photo here was likely taken about 1910. Both it and the "Now"photo were taken from the corner of Railway Street and 49 C Avenue, looking northeast.