Webster, Alberta

The locality of Webster was established in 1916 as a station on the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway about 30 km north of the City of Grande Prairie. It was named after George Webster who was a subcontractor for the railway at that time, and later became Mayor and then MLA for the City of Calgary.^[1]

Although, there were a few railway workers who lived there from 1916 to the late 1920s, the area was mainly settled in 1929 by Polish immigrants from the Vermilion area who had fled Poland after Russian invaded following World War I.^[2] In the fall of 1929, a store was opened by Andrew and Cathy Hancharyk on the NW quarter of Section 27, Township 74, Range 5, West of the 6th Meridian. A post office opened there on October 15, 1929, with Andrew as postmaster.^[3] “Across the street from the store was the butchershop and café”. The community included ”two livery barns… a single elevator which served an area as far away as Heart Valley… an elevator house, and a water tank for the train.”^[2] Across the creek was the Webster Sawmill. In 1930, a large Catholic Church was erected.^[2] This also served as a school-room for Torun School District 4483, approved on March 20, 1930, until the school was built in 1937.^[4] In the late 1930s, Webster Hall was built for community gatherings and a rectory was added for the first resident Catholic priest.^[2] The elevator was the first community building lost by fire, then the church in the early 1960s.^[2] In 1957, Torun School closed and the students were vanned to Sexsmith.^[4] The post office closed in 1966,^[3] and all that remained were the hall and the Catholic grotto which had been erected beside the church, as well as the Webster Cemetery.^[2]

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