Banks, grocers, livery stables, saloons, hotels, office buildings, theatres, Chinese restaurants and laundries began to rapidly appear and for the first dozen years of the 20th century, this was the heart of the rapidly growing city. Between 1900 and 1912, Edmontons population catapulted from barely 2,600 to more than 50,000 and the area around Jasper and Namayo was at the heart of it all.

When the Hudsons Bay Company subdivided and sold the remainder of the land holdings west of 101st Street, it marked the beginning of the end for what is today known as the Jasper East Block. Businesses moved westward and Jasper East was left behind, as a sort of time capsule of Edmontons formative years.

Thats why so many of the vintage buildings have survived, each with a story of their own.

Today these buildings, on the north side of Jasper between 96th and 97th Streets, comprise the only intact pre-World War One grouping of buildings along Edmonton's main street. Its a great place for a summer history lesson and a good place to begin is where it all began the corner of Jasper Avenue and 97th Street.

Goodridge Block - 9696 Jasper Avenue

Its The Hardware Grill now, named for Edmontons most famous hardware store between the 1930s and 1980s, W.W. Arcade. The building is named for Leonard A. Goodridge, who built it beginning in 1911.

The story goes that during the excavation, the west wall of the adjacent Jasper House Hotel (now Hub Hotel) began to crumble and fall into the hole. Crowds gathered to observe the catastrophe but disaster was ultimately prevented when large timbers successfully held the hotel in its rightful place.

When it opened in 1912, the Goodridge Block housed several retailers on its main floor including a mens wear store; a barber shop; a wine, liquor and cigar store and a pool hall. The upper floors held offices.

The design, by local architect Robert Percy Barnes, is an excellent example of classical and commercial design and was sophisticated for its time. Elaborate touches include keystones above the window arches and rusticated corners. Its southwest corner comes to a point and juts out further than it normally would because the meeting of the two streets isnt exactly perpendicular.

The Goodridge Block was nearly demolished in the late 1980s but the Edmonton Downtown Development Corporation came to the rescue, rehabilitating it and turning the top floors into affordable housing.

Hub Hotel - 9692 Jasper Avenue

James Goodridge built this structure in 1882 as the Jasper House Hotel, making it one of the first and certainly the longest original standing hotel in Edmonton. The Jasper House quickly became a hangout for hunters and trappers and was a boarding house which also offered food, drink and, of course, a saloon.

It later became the Empress Hotel and was the first building in Edmonton to be faced in brick. Its dowdy appearance today belies the rich history under the skin. The street out front was where the first Edmonton-to-Calgary stagecoach departed.

The Gem (Star) Theatre - 9682 Jasper Avenue

When it opened in 1914, the Gem Theatre was one of Edmonton's first movie houses. With its ornate plaster relief ceilings in the lobby and auditorium, stone pilaster flanked entranceway and orchestra pit nestled under the screen, the 490-seat cinema was called stylish and modern. It was also designed by Magoon and MacDonald.

Across the street from the Gem, the 300-seat Dreamland Theatre had been operating for nearly two years; a block west, the Portola Theatre was soon to open. By the end of the year, the area had become renowned as Edmonton's first cinema district.

The first proprietor of the theatre was Jules Allen, son of Barney and brother of Jay, operators of Canada's first chain of motion picture theatres. The brothers built their first luxury theatre, the 900-seat Allen Theatre, in Calgary in 1911.

As one of Edmonton's smallest and cheapest movie theatres, the Gem operated as a cinema for some fifty years before the audiences began to thin and the building began to deteriorate. In the 1970s it was converted into a rock club called the Gem Ballroom and in 1979 it changed owners once again. This time it was renovated and reopened as "The Star" theatre and showed double features in Chinese until the last image flickered across the screen in the late 1980s.

Now the Portola and the Dreamland are long gone and the Gem Theatre sits empty and decaying.

The Ernest Brown (Brighton) Block - 9670 Jasper Avenue

Built in 1912 for leading Edmonton photographer Ernest Brown, this building originally was home to his studio, workshops and offices. "Everything Photographic. Ernest Brown Block 1912, read the inscription on the parapet.

The ground floor housed other businesses including a printing and stationary store and a men's clothing store. Brown's enlargement department and picture framing factory were located in the basement, while the upper floors were offices and apartments.

The handsome three-storey brick and steel building was designed by Edmonton architect James Henderson and replaced a wooden framed building that was also used as a photography studio as early as 1886. Its original frontage was 33 feet and that was doubled a year later, in 1913.

The building, which later became known as the Brighton Block, is a classicized version of the Edwardian Commercial Style, so common in urban architecture in the early 1900s. The emphasis on the central and end bays is a characteristic design shaped by the Beaux Arts classic influences of the early 20th century. The elegant facade was rejuvenated two years ago as part of the Jasper East Village Mainstreet Programme.

The Lodge Hotel - 9660 Jasper Avenue

When it first opened in the summer of 1904, this commercial block was called the Pendennis Hotel, and boasted a parlor, bar, office and large and small dining rooms with bedrooms on the second and third floors. The first identifiable proprietor was Nathan Bell who purchased the Pendennis in 1905.

The Pendennis thrived, well known for its excellent food, until the post-war economic recession and the prohibition forced it to foreclose. It was then converted into a rooming house and eventually became The Kenmo Lodge, which was later shortened to the Lodge Hotel.

Next week: Edmontons flatiron building and the original home of GWG in Edmonton, as the exploration of Jasper East Village continues.

Some information for this article was sourced by historian Kathryn Ivany as part of a walking tour for Historic Edmonton Week.