THE HISTORY OF THE KROGMAN BLOCK
At the corner of Railway Street East and Lansdown (now 49 Avenue and 49 Street) sat an impressive boarding house run by Mrs Swanson. Her business was so successful she updated and expanded her premises and it became the Scandinavian Hotel.
In 1900 this was an ideal location in Wetaskiwin on the corner of two major streets. Neighbouring businesses were a butcher shop, grocery store, livery stable, restaurant and blacksmith's shop. One of the later proprietors, a fellow by the name of Ludwig Olstad, even conducted a lay dental office in the hotel.
In 1914 an American by the name of Mr. I. Krogman visited Wetaskiwin, liked the community and his business prospects so he bought the Scandinavian Hotel, cleared the site and erected a modern brick and stone structure that covered two lots. Mr. Krogman spared no expense on this impressive undertaking as he ensured the whole building was equipped with modern conveniences such as plumbing and electricity. Part of the building even had a basement. With main street running in front his building Mr. Krogman envisioned a 1915 version of a shopping mall and so his new building was constructed to accommodate five roomy businesses. Lansdown was the only railway crossing in Wetaskiwin at the time so he predicted great success.
However, shortly after his building was completed the Lansdown crossing was suddenly closed and a new crossing was built one block further north. This sudden change really affected the businesses on Lansdown. Several businesses tried operating from the Krogman Block but they met with little success, so for a period of time the building even stood empty. By 1919 the building was a white elephant with delinquent taxes since Mr. Krogman had passed away leaving a bankrupt estate. The building was put up for sale and the Wetaskiwin U.F.A. Co-operative Association Ltd. bought it for $10,000.
At the time of this writing in 2004 the Wetaskiwin Co-operative Association still owns the property that they acquired in 1919 as well as the adjoining and neighbouring land and buildings. Although the majority of the buildings and land are currently not utilized, the upper floor of the main building is still used by community groups for meetings.
Although the disposition of the property has not been determined it is this writer's guess that, since the Wetaskiwin Co-op Association has not failed its members and the community in over 88 years, there is no reason to believe that eventually this property will not also be utilized for the benefit of the community that the families of the Co-op have lived in and served for the better part a century.
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The compilation and writing of
this history was made possible because co-op members had the foresight to record memorable
events or preserve photographs and various other material.