Built by an early Edmonton blacksmith and a man called Edmonton’s “Merchant Prince,” the Kelly and Ramsey Buildings offer a fascinating connection to the formative years of the city. The two blocks, at the corner of 101 A Avenue and 101 A Street, are no longer the landmarks they once were, but that they have managed to escape demolition, even as their neighbours have fallen one by one, is a remarkable achievement.

That the Kelly-Ramsey Blocks are actually two buildings, constructed 13 years apart, is not readily apparent. But if you look closely you will discern where they are joined.

The corner where John Kelly erected his block is now the heart of Rice Howard Way, named for the two streets that converged here – Rice and Howard. Although John Kelly began his career in Edmonton as a blacksmith, he went onto become the president of Owner’s Realty. It may well have been through these business ventures that he gained the capital to build the Jasper Block at 10514-20 Jasper Avenue in 1909 and the Kelly Building in 1914.

Not much is known of Kelly except that he was an Edmonton alderman in 1895-96 and a resident of what later became known as the Dr. Chatham Manor on 107th Street, south of Jasper Avenue. His $100,000 building was designed by William D. Van Sicklen, a local architect. The builder was the contracting firm of Reid, MacDonald, Brewster.

Its first tenant was James Ramsey Limited, the company operated by Edmonton’s “Merchant Prince.” James Ramsey was born in Imlay City, Michigan in 1864 and was raised in Plattsville, Ontario. He began his career in merchandising there and business took him to Toronto, Montreal and New York.

Ramsey came to Edmonton in 1910 after an apprenticeship as a retailer with his father in Guelph, Ontario. He chose this city because, as Ramsey told an Edmonton Bulletin reporter, it boasted the best business prospects.

He met with Robert Tegler, who was planning to erect a modern business block and the two talked about Ramsey establishing a store in the building. Tegler agreed to send rental details by telegram to Ramsey’s base in Ontario and, the story goes that when the numbers arrived, they looked so good that Ramsey caught the next train back to Edmonton. He quickly rolled up his sleeves and began building a retail empire.

The Tegler Block started to rise in the spring of 1911 and the James Ramsey Limited Department Store opened on the main floor on September 3rd, 1911, occupying 18,000 square feet. The original capital expense was $19,000 -- $8,000 for fixtures, $6,000 for freight, and $5,000 for expenses.

Newspapers of the day reported how “crowds thronged through the store from sun-up to close.:” The store brought class to a frontier city. In the words of an Edmonton Bulletin appraisal, “Everything in style, quality, price and service.”

Soon, the store outgrew its Tegler Building premises and, when Kelly announced plans for his building, Ramsey was quick to jump at the opportunity for expansion space. A well-crafted brick edifice with abundant windows, Ramsey’s new quarters in the Kelly Building opened in 1915, complete with solid maple and linoleum flooring.

While Kelly remains a bit of a mystery, there’s nothing obscure about James Ramsey. He was one of Edmonton’s most visible leaders of the early 20th century and was elected alderman in 1915 and 1916 and sat in the provincial legislature as a Conservative from 1917 to 1921.

Kelly left for California in the 1920s and, in 1926, Ramsey bought the building. The following year, he announced construction of the adjacent Ramsey Block and hired the well-established Edmonton architectural partnership of Magoon and MacDonald to design it.

The result is a structure that leans to Edwardian Commercial style and features many classical elements, such as the pilasters, so common in the architecture of the time. The structure was erected by contractor H.O. MacDonald.

In 1927, the Ramsey Building opened, selling the latest furnishings from Europe, the United States and Central Canada. Built at a cost of $150,000, this addition was clad with an extravagant granite facing. It even boasted not one, but two, Otis elevators.

Ramsey was married twice and fathered three children -- two daughters and a son, Lt. Thomas Ramsey, who served in the First World War with the 49th Battalion of the Edmonton Regiment.

Ramsey ended his career as a seller of goods in 1928 by selling the “stock and goodwill” of James Ramsey Limited to the T. Eaton Company. T. Eaton then took over the business in the Ramsey Block, which marked the beginning of the department store’s long association with Edmonton.

The following year, Ramsey formed a financial and investment firm, Ramsey Hunt and Ramsey Limited, but a year later he retired from his business activities. He died at his Bahamas home in December 1939, at the age of 75.

That year, the T. Eaton Company built its new store on the west side of 101st Street where the western part of Edmonton City Centre shopping complex is now. The Alberta Government bought both the Kelly and the Ramsey buildings and moved in the offices of the Workmen’s Compensation Board.

While the interiors of both buildings have been extensively modified over the years, the street facades endure largely unaltered from their original state. Although they are immediately adjacent, with continuous facades and internal links at each storey, the two structures remain visually distinct. The narrower, but higher, Ramsey Building is faced of limestone, which further distinguishes it from the brick-faced Kelly Building.

A report compiled for the City Planning and Development department notes the importance of the Kelly-Ramsey Building has only increased with the passage of time. With the loss of many important structures of similar age and even greater significance such as the Tegler Building (replaced by the Bank of Montreal), the Kelly-Ramsey Building has become increasingly important to the urban design of the area.

The buildings are now owned by Worthington Properties.

Information for this article sourced with the generous assistance of the staff at the City of Edmonton Archives and the Heritage Planners for the Edmonton Planning and Development Department.