One hundred years ago, the Canadian Pacific Railway was building its new station in Strathcona, which it had decided to turn into a dominant divisional point. The decision was made in 1906, the year after the Canadian Northern Railway arrived in Edmonton.

Not be outdone on the south side of the river, CPR selected a site just south of the original Calgary and Edmonton Railway depot, a wooden structure just south of Whyte Avenue. The C & E station began life when the rails arrived from Calgary and points south in 1891.

The grand new CPR station at what is now 8103 Gateway Boulevard (103 Street) was designed by the railway’s engineering department based in Winnipeg. It was built starting in 1907 by Peter McDermid, a Winnipeg contractor renowned for prairie railway station construction.

The station was similar in design to ones in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, also constructed during the same frantic period of expansion into the new province of Alberta. In the years leading to World War I, thousands of newcomers disembarked here, as the region’s population doubled, launching one of the most extraordinary real estate booms the city has ever seen. The Strathcona station was the centrepiece for the pattern of urban and rural settlement across Alberta. In those days, communities often grew around the railway and the station was the focal point of that settlement.

From its bellcast hip roof, brick and Tyndall stone facade and octagonal tower, the structure exudes an elegant and romantic grace that typified rail travel early this century. The date plaque on the tower says “1907,” the year construction commenced.

The architecture of the station leans to the Queen Anne style with elements from French and Scottish schools of design. The large two-tiered hipped roof with wide bellcast eaves owes much to French architecture, while the octagonal tower was derived from Scottish sources – perhaps in recognition of the Scottish ancestry of high-ranking CPR officers.

Not only the style but the materials set the building apart – then and now. The Tyndall stone, red decorative brick and timber were all high quality, exquisitely detailed. The original construction cost for the 135 feet long by 38 feet wide structure was $24,382.

The windows, with large lower panes and contrasting smaller upper transoms, were arranged in multiple units, emphasizing the horizontal character of the facades. The roof is characterized by deep bracketed eaves, with heavy timber brackets resting on decorative stone corbels. They help give the structure a sense of poetic grace and strength.

The station was complete in January 1908, and the Edmonton Bulletin newspaper gushed over the architecture. “The artistic new building . . . is an attractive feature which cannot fail to impress newcomers,” it said.

A story in the January 18, 1908 issue reported that the ground floor of the station included express offices, separate ladies’ and mens’ waiting rooms, ticket and telegraph offices and gentlemen’s smoking room. “In the upstairs, arrangements have been made for superintendents, engineers and dispatchers’ offices.”

A 1976 report on Alberta’s early railway depots compiled by Leslie Kozma notes that the second floor was left unfinished until 1914, when it was turned into yard offices and sleeping and dining car stores. At an unknown date, the storage areas were converted to living quarters for train crews. There were three bedrooms, washroom facilities and a kitchen and dining room.

In 1966, the interior was completely gutted and the central office area expanded. Little remained of the original finishes, save for window treatments, some high wooden baseboards and other wood mouldings.

Yet the exterior remained unaltered and it is that preservation that led the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to bestow protection in 1992. The Strathcona Station is designated a heritage railway station under the Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act. A report compiled by the Board concluded that, “architecturally, the station is a substantial and well-executed example of turn-of-the-century principles in railway station design.”

Today, the station ranks as one of Edmonton’s best examples of adaptive reuse of a historic building, and enters its second century of life as the Iron Horse Eatery and Watering Hole. The building is also on the city’s “A” list of historically significant structures. Any move to demolish or significantly alter the station would need to be first brought to the attention of city council.

In recognition of its importance and long service to the communities of Strathcona and Edmonton, the Edmonton Historical Board chose the building for a recognition plaque in 1996. It was a fitting tribute for a grand old piece of railway past that, as the Edmonton Bulletin originally predicted, has indeed impressed many newcomers (and countless long time residents) over five generations of service to the community.