When St. Albert Place was being built in 1982-83 there was a contest to name the future theatre. A winner was chosen out of a number of great submissions. The winner was Shyamal Bagchee, and his suggestion was to call the theatre the Arden. Welcoming more than 65,000 patrons to over 150 events annually, The Arden has presented excellence in artistic programming for over 30 years, offering a variety of music, theatre, and dance events for arts lovers of all ages.
Leonard (Len) Bracko was born 2 Dec 1943 in St. Albert, Alberta. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Education and a graduate diploma in Education administration. Bracko began teaching junior and senior high in St. Albert Catholic school in 1979. In 1989, Bracko ran for MLA in the provincial election with the Alberta Liberal party. However, he came in second to Progressive Conservative Richard (Dick) Fowler, former mayor of St. Albert. Later in that same year, Bracko ran for St. Albert City Council and was elected as alderman. He served as alderman from 1989-1992 before running again and winning a seat as MLA in the 1993 provincial election. Bracko served as MLA with the Liberal official opposition caucus from 1993-1997, when he lost his seat to Mary O’Neill. He returned to teaching and retired in 1997. After his retirement, Bracko ran for and was elected again to the City Council of St. Albert, and he served as alderman from 2001-2013, having been reelected three times (2004, 2007, and 2010). Bracko and his wife Barb were active with Habitat for Humanity and international development. Bracko passed away on 19 Aug 2017.
The Sisters of Charity (Grey Nuns) arrived in St. Albert from Lac Ste. Anne in 1863 and construction of a small convent that served as schoolhouse and hospital when needed was completed in 1864. St. Albert Roman Catholic Public District No. 3 was formed in 1885, and was later known as St. Albert Catholic School District No. 3. In 1995, the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division No. 29 was formed with the amalgamation of three formerly independent school jurisdictions of St. Albert, Morinville, and Legal. On July 1, 2012, legislation came into effect which changed Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools status from "public" to "separate", and resulted in a legal name change to Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 734. Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools services the communities of St. Albert, Morinville and Legal as well as the districts of Cardiff, Cunningham and Guilbault.
Antoni Hauptman (b. 1876, d. 1942) and Katarzyna Mielniczek (b. 1880, d.1933) lived in Poland and had twelve children, including sons Stan (Stanislaw) (d. 27 May 1963), Kelly (Kazimierz) (d. 21 Feb 1956), Joseph (Joe) (d. 27 Oct 1985), Walter, Ted (d. 21 May 1978), and Karl (Karol) (2 Jan 2017), and daughters Maria (d. 29 Aug 1996) and Antonina. Joe Hauptman married Bernice (Bronislawa) Palonek in 1936; their son Adam was born 15 Jun 1939.
In 1940, at the outbreak of the Second World War, the Hauptman family was deported to Kotlas, in far northern Siberia. One son, Frank, died of dysentery at the camp. In 1941, at the declaration of Amnesty, the Hauptman family arrived at Samarkand. The men in the Hauptman family, John, Joe, Walter, Ted and Karl, joined the Polish Army in 1942. Sadly, John did not survive the war and their elderly father, Antoni, became ill and died in Uzbekistan. Two of the brother’s wives, along with Joe’s two-year-old son, Adam, eventually travelled to Uganda where they spent the rest of the war. Several years before the war, the two oldest Hauptman brothers, Stan and Kelly, had already emigrated to Canada. They married two Ukrainian sisters from Lamont and began the first of many businesses that the family would be involved in.
Stan Hauptman moved to St. Albert and became part owner of the Bruin Inn in the late 1940s. In 1953 he opened the St. Albert Drive-In. When the Karl and Ted arrived in St. Albert, they moved into the Bruin Inn and Ted began to work in the bar. After six years of separation Joe’s wife Bernice and nine-year-old Adam finally arrived in 1948. Bernice became the cook at the Bruin Inn where she stayed until her retirement.
Ted Hauptman went on to open the Dairy Star drive-in and the very successful Klondike Inn restaurant on St. Albert Trail.
Joe Hauptman’s son, Adam Hauptman, grew up to own his own school bus business and later, he and his wife Pat bought out Lefebvre’s jewellery store in 1968 renaming it “Sweetheart Jeweller’s”.
Karl Hauptman got a job in the aircraft industry and later started his own business, “Karol Radio Repair Service”. He opened the first drive-through restaurant in St. Albert, the Klondike Inn. Karl also served on the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce, St. Albert Parish Finance Committee and as a member of the Knights of Columbus. In 1951, Karl was married to Annette (d. 18 Sep 1981) and had sons Richard (b. 24 Jul 1953) and John, and daughter Katherine (b. 18 Nov 1958). After the death of Annette, Karl remarried in Jun 1986 to Kathy Engley.
Anita Ratchinsky was St. Albert's first full-time mayor and first female mayor. She served as chairwoman of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce in 1985 and 1986. In 1986, Ratchinsky ran for city council and was elected as alderman. She then ran as mayor and was elected for three consecutive terms from 1989-1998.
In 1978 the City of St. Albert introduced performing arts programs that were more relevant to community theatre. By 1979 the City had shifted the program’s emphasis to children’s theatre. In 1981 the City created a Cultural Leadership Coordinator position, which helped focus this programming to develop leadership skills in youth. This focus led to the inception of Imaginings — the City’s 1981 summer drama program. Imaginings presented St. Albert’s first all-children production, The Hobbit. From that, St. Albert Children’s Theatre was born. In 1983 St. Albert Place opened its doors and St. Albert Children’s Theatre (SACT) became its "resident" company. SACT put on regular spring and winter productions. Also utilized were summer students interested in careers within the theatre community, giving them practical experience. As well as the larger productions produced by the theatre, the organization has also offered drama summer camps.
The Healing Garden was created along the Red Willow Trail across from St. Albert Place in 2017 to recognize and acknowledge the survivors of Indian Residential Schools in St. Albert. It is meant to be a therapeutic place of reconciliation that will bring awareness, education, and cultural teachings to the community. The Healing Garden is a community project led by a planning committee consisting of survivors of Indian Residential Schools, representatives from the First Nations and Métis communities, the United Church, the Catholic Church, the general community and the City of St. Albert. One of the first of its kind in Canada, the collaborative initiative between the City of St. Albert and greater community acknowledges survivors of Indian Residential Schools and provides a place of truth and reconciliation. St. Albert was home to two residential schools: St. Albert Indian Residential School (Youville, located on Mission Hill) and Edmonton Indian Residential School (current site of the Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Centres, located about six km east of downtown St. Albert).
Sturgeon General Hospital officially opened in 1969, but efforts to bring an active treatment hospital to St. Albert began in 1962. As St. Albert and other surrounding communities were denied by the provincial government, a coalition was formed to request a regional hospital, which in 1965 was granted, creating the Sturgeon General Hospital District No. 100. The Sturgeon General Hospital officially opened in August 1970. This hospital building was closed in 1992 and demolished in 1997 (beginning on 6 Mar 1997) following the construction of a new facility on the north edge of the city. the old structure was full of asbestos and thus considered unsafe.
Florence Mae Woodward (nee Miller) was born in Winterburn on August 3, 1927 to Henry Charles Miller and Maria Amanda Gagne. She married Cecil Archibald Woodward at St. Stephen's College Chapel, University of Alberta, in 1953. She had three children: Lynne Jane Woodward (b. 5 Apr 1954), Katherine Anne Woodward (b. 21 Nov 1955), and William Arlie Woodward (b. 31 Oct 1957).