Olds, Alberta - City and Town Halls on Waymarking.com

A modern building at the east end of town greets visitors to the town of Olds, Alberta. Its location is ideal for easy access to Highway 2, the Queen Elizabeth Highway that is moments away from the community.

The early history of the town is described in their website as:
"The year 1890 marks the beginning of the settlement which became the town of Olds. When the rail line reached the sixth siding (Olds) out of Calgary, a section foreman named David Shannon arrived on an open handcar. Mr. Shannon, a native of Ireland, was experienced at railway construction, as he had worked on the building of the Underground in London, England. At the Sixth Siding, Mr. Shannon provided living quarters for his family and established squatter's rights to a quarter section of land. This gained them the distinction of being the earliest residents of Olds.

On 27 July 1891, the first through train made the trip from Calgary to south Edmonton. That same month the CPR took over the operation of the C & E Railway and released its officialist of names for the sidings and stations along the route. Sixth Siding had already been designated as a railway station point and work started on the building of the station and water tank.

A committee of CPR officials, charged with selecting names for the points along the line, suggested "Shannon", but this honour was declined by Mr. Shannon and the town site was named for a CPR traffic manager, Mr. George Olds. He was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1832. He came to Canada as a young man and worked for a number of railways in Canada and the United States, returning to Canada in 1886 to join Canadian Pacific as a General Traffic Manager. He held this position until his retirement 10 years later. Mr. Olds is buried in the Airdrie cemetery. It appears that even before he retired from employment with the CPR, he lived for a time in the settlement that
was named for him, running a store."

See: (visit link)

Name: Administration and Tourist Information Address: 4512 - 46th Street Olds, Alberta Canada T4H 1R5 Date of Construction: May 1998 Architect: unknown Memorials/Commemorations/Dedications: None Web Site for City/Town/Municipality: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
Post at least one original photo of the building that is a different view from the one on the page and describe your visit, including the date. Add any additional information that you may have about this building. A GPSr photo is NOT required

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.