Bits And Pieces With the Dominion Day celebration in 1909 when the buffalo arrived in Wainwright, programs listed events including racing, athletics and a dance; “busses” were available to Buffalo Park. The Palace Billiard Hall advertised “hot and cold baths,” admission to the races was one dollar. In 1908, the Wainwright Star began its existence. From 1918 - 1945, Walter John Huntingford owned and operated the flourishing newspaper business. He was one of a delegation from Wainwright who went to Ottawa at the time of the Park’s closure, resulting in its transition to a military establishment. Len D’Albertanson bought the paper in 1949, naming it the Wainwright Star Chronicle. Len has kindly written the introduction to this book. A telephone exchange was welcomed to Wainwright in 1911. There was often trouble in Buffalo Park with the telephone poles being mercilessly used by bison for rubbing posts. Some days the lines would sway for miles! When the Elite theatre (now Thorps Drugstore) opened in 1912, silent movies were shown with piano accompaniment. After the show, rows of chairs with boards nailed beneath them were swiftly moved along the walls, revealing a dance floor. The same pianist would entertain dancers; ladies were allowed free entry, men paid ten cents or better for admission. These were the days that town stayed open until midnight, Saturday nights. And it was busy! Electricity supplied by a generator, sometimes conked out, leaving everyone in darkness. Park Road School No. 3229: NE 17 - 43 - 6 was built in 1917, and opened in 1919. The first teacher was miss Douglas, daughter of Park Farm foreman. Some folks recall Bert Walker, also a foreman’s child, making his way to the schoolhouse aboard his stubborn Shetland pony. Closed with the Park in 1939, the building was moved to Wainwright. The Canadian government presented Wainwright with a buffalo head to adorn the walls of the Council Chamber in 1916. It, along with the Town Hall, was destroyed in the fire of 1929. Wainwright requested a replacement and in 1931, the Department of Interior provided a second buffalo trophy head to be placed in the new building. Bud Cotton’s warden cabin, called Rockyford Station, was nicknamed “Ellofahole” by the riders. It had no insulation, no screen door, and a tin stove with a do-it-yourself woodpile. This “palace” was situated on the west side of the Park, north of the Hardisty gate. Aleck (Dick) Plater, Bob Barnett and Jack Fisher, Park Farm employees, batched in a one-room shack just west of the Park Farm house. Davey Davison tended Buffalo Park’s Main Gate. The gatekeeper’s home is now the Gun and Country Club building. His duties included watching over the exhibition area where tourists were able to view buffalo, elk, deer, moose, yak and antelope. He had only one hand; a hook replacement for his left hand was seldom used. His journal notes shipments of buffalo to South America, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, England and USA. Davidson personally presented two bison, Daniel and Rebecca Boone, to the Governor of Kentucky. Jack Channel was another Park personality remembered for his riding ability, minus one arm. Dick McKay, a carpenter by trade, helped construct many of the buildings at Park Farm, Hardisty Gate, Rockyford, the Main Gate, and later, the abbatoir. McKay erected corrals at the loading area near the tracks, and was responsible for measuring buffalo to be shipped overseas. He custom-built crates for them to be loaded into thus were making it possible to transfer the caged animals to ships.