A Brief History of Bawlf

Before Bawlf was actually established, there was a post office a few miles north of the current town site. It was operated by O. Molstad, and so the location was known as Molstad, Alberta. However, with the coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway line in 1905, Bawlf where we know it today was laid out and incorporated.

Named after Nicholas Bawlf, president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the town began to grow steadily from that time onward. Right from the outset, it was an active centre for a large farming district. Among one of the most conspicuous enterprises in Bawlf was the public hospital, which was built and opened in 1906. By 1909, the building was found to be too small and it was therefore doubled in size.

The CPR station and yards were a busy place, with shipments away including coal, hogs, poultry, wheat, oats, hay, hides, butter, and potatoes.

Of paramount importance to the town and the district were the Bawlf Collieries Ltd., which commenced in the fall of 1910 to mine coal on property secured two miles west of the town site. It was in the process of a homesteader digging his well that a find of coal was made. After testing was completed, it was estimated that 12,000,000 tons of coal lay under that one section of land! This meant employment for about 100 men drawing $4-5 a day in wages.

In 1911, Bawlf's business streets were busy in the daytime when farmers were marketing their produce, and in the evening when the miners were done for the day. There were four general stores, three hardware stores, two tin shops, a harness shop, two livery barns, a blacksmith shop, two furniture stores, a butcher shop, a stationery store, a drug store, a doctor, a barber shop, two pool halls, two hotels, one licensed bar, two lumber yards, two implement agencies, a jewellery store, a tailor shop, a newspaper and job office, a bank, and two elevators.

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