Fred Payton, one of the dedicated volunteers at the historical society, conducts family history research requests from all over the world. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

By Teena Monteleone

History of Prince Albert

Local historians connect the past with the present

Oct 14, 2024 | 8:00 AM

In the basement of the Prince Albert Historical Museum, there’s a small room off to the side where the history of the city isn’t just being preserved, it’s also being discovered.

Ken Guedo and Fred Payton are the two longest-serving volunteers who spend a few hours, several days a week, sorting historical photos and other artifacts, conducting research and then transforming the material into an accessible, searchable and well-organized archive.

“I’ve been told we’re one of the largest archives in the province after the provincial archives,” said Guedo with pride. “We have all the Daily Heralds in hard copies from 1918 to 1976 or so, and then we have them on disc and microfilm. We have, I’m going to say twenty-thousand photographs of people and events of this, that and the other thing.”

In a room in the basement of the Prince Albert Historical Museum, a few volunteers spend a couple of hours researching local history each day. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

The volunteers, who are mostly all seniors, receive inquiries from people ‘all over the world.’ On average, they’ll take on 20 to 30 requests per month.

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“They want to know about their relatives that came here 100 years ago. They want to know about this business or that building and we have all the resources including 90 community history books,” said Guedo.

Payton showed off a complete set of Henderson’s Directories that were printed for Prince Albert. The books listed buildings on each street at the time of publication, what the buildings were used for or who lived there, and what the resident’s occupation was. Payton used the directories to the past to assist in a family history request from a woman in Ottawa whose father was the chief of police in Prince Albert from 1910 to 1923.

“Each day you really have no idea what you’re going to get involved in.”

Payton especially loves uncovering unique stories about the city of Prince Albert that he said not enough people know about.

“I love the story about Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who ran here in the 1895 election. He also ran in Quebec East and decided to represent Quebec East. But when the Liberal Association here telegrammed him and said you won the election, he sent a message back saying ‘thank you very much’… but he sent it collect,” Payton laughed.

A view of River Street and Central Avenue around 1911. (Submitted/Prince Albert Historical Society)

Another favourite story of Payton’s is the mysterious demise of a butcher in Prince Albert who is buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery by the penitentiary.

“The death of this butcher reads like an Agatha Christie novel. It’s a sad story but really fascinating when you start going back into the history of it. It actually ended up being an accidental death,” Payton explained. “The gun above the door of the store discharged and killed him as he was walking towards his counter.”

Ken Guedo sorts through some historical photos. He’s been a volunteer since 1998. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

Guedo’s love of history was discovered by happenstance. He had recently retired from the City in 1998 and was bored of doing nothing when he saw a news article from a volunteer at the archives saying they were looking for help.

“So, I thought, ‘why not?’ and I’ve been here just about every morning during the week since.”

Guedo said Prince Albertan’s have a lot to be proud of.

“What we have here now in Prince Albert was done by a lot of hard work for people over the years. And even now there are people writing history and they might not know it, but in 30 or 40 years somebody’s going to look back and say, ‘Oh, look at what this person did in 2024.’ I think it’s important not to forget how we got to be where we are today.”

A photo of Prince Albert looking east believed to have been taken around 1891. (Submitted/Prince Albert Historical Society)

Guedo said he particularly likes the old photos showing what the city used to look like and how it’s changed. The excitement was palpable when he talked about the time an envelope of negatives was discovered in the Anglican Diocese archives in Winnipeg. Historians there suspected the photos were from Prince Albert and sent them to the museum in P.A.

“The photos were from roughly 1912 and it was like a gold mine because we never had any images like that from that time period and I was blown away by the quality of them,” said Guedo. “And to think they came to us because someone was cleaning out a cupboard in Winnipeg and they come across this envelope marked ‘Prince Albert’ with a question mark.”

Guedo suspects the photos were taken by an engineering firm speculating about the La Colle Falls hydroelectric dam – a partially completed project that nearly bankrupted the city in the process.

The Prince Albert Historical Museum houses one of the largest achives in the province, according to volunteers. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

The local historians don’t plan on slowing down any time soon. They said there is still a lot more to discover.

Prince Albert Historical Museum curator Michelle Taylor said without Guedo and Payton, the Historical Society wouldn’t be what it is today.

“Ken and Fred are very passionate. Without their work, we wouldn’t be able to answer a lot of questions. It’s very invigorating to have the seniors down there every day and I just hope when I get to their age that I have the stamina and will and dedication to come and do as good a job as they do every day.”

Both Guedo and Payton are quick to say what they do isn’t a job. They spend their time in the basement of the historical museum because they want to and they suspect others could get hooked on history just like they did.

“I didn’t know anything about local history until I came down here to see what was going on,” said Guedo.

“You might find that once you start, you can’t stop. I’d say give it a shot.”

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teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com