People, Places & Stories
The Millarville area has many places to discover and an interesting array of characters and stories. Full access to our complete archives is available to members of the society through our private Facebook page. To learn more about a few of our famous faces and historical places, please see below.
Millarville Racetrack
Introduced by the early British settlers, the Millarville Races were the continuation of a racing tradition in England and Ireland. The first Race Committee was formed on 3rd June 1905, when the residents of Millarville met to discuss the possible organization of an event. The land for the racetrack was granted to the Committee by Raymond DeMalherbe rent-free for the first thirty-five years. The first Millarville races were held later that month, making the race meet the oldest in Alberta.
Millarville General Store
The present Millarville General Store was built in 1989 after a fire destroyed the original store that was built by Norman Pegler in 1926. To fully understand the whole story, we need to go back to the late 1800’s when Malcolm Millar and his wife Helen (Shaw) had the first store and trading post in this area.
Millarville Community Library
In 1975, the Millarville Community Library’s humble beginnings consisted of one bay of shelves in the school library in the basement of Millarville School. It was entirely run by volunteers and to this day continues to be staffed by many volunteers along with a librarian employee.
Millarville Motors
Millarville Motors was founded by Hans Backs in 1945. Hans and two of his friends, Harold and Hjalmer, came to Canada from Germany in 1926 with a dream of becoming cowboys, originally settling in the Olds area. Hans worked for the Reed Ranch which was then owned by Pat Burns (and is now a college).
Millarville Community School
Sheep Creek School #4258 was built in 1928 about 3 km west of the present Millarville Community School. Due to the influx of oil workers, a second school with two rooms was built beside the original school. These classrooms were opening in 1942 after Christmas. The first regular bus service started in 1950 to this original Sheep Creek School.
Christ Church
Christ Church was constructed in 1896 at the instigation of the Reverend Webb-Peploe, the first Anglican minister in the Millarville area. Because of poor health, Webb-Peploe had relinquished his pastoral duties in England and came to Western Canada. He acquired a quarter section of land in the Millarville area in 1894 and had a house built of vertical logs. Church services were being held in private homes, and WebbPeploe was determined that a church should be built.
Rancher's Corner
Jack Lee acquired a homestead to the SE ¼ 14-21-3-5 in 1926 and he and his brother Bill opening a store. The next year their parents, Harry and Jenny Lee, moved into the store. After Harry died in 1932, Jack and Bill’s brother Frank purchased the store and in 1946 resold the store and land back to Bill. It became known as Bill’s Corner Service. In the 1950’s, school bus drivers Bill Lee and Gordon Blanchard would stop with the kids once a week so everyone could have a treat.
Millarville Community Church
The Millarville Community Church congregation was founded in 1982 from adult Bible study groups. The first Sunday service wasn’t held until Sept. 1983 in the Millarville Community Library with services later held in the school auditorium and Ranchers Hall. In 2003 a piece of land on Highway 549, PTN SE-13-21–03-W5M, was donated and a temporary building was moved onto the land the following year.
Millarville Rancher's Hall
For eighty-one years the old Ranchers’ Hall sat on the same spot on the Fisher Ranch at Millarville. Joseph Fisher Sr. had donated the land and the building of the Hall was a real community event. Logs were cut and hauled to the site and almost all the ranchers had a hand in the building of it. Up to that time, 1895, there had been no public building in the district. Until 1950, when a new hall was built four miles east of the old Hall, it was in constant use as a gathering place for dances, church, school and meetings of all kinds.
New Rancher's Hall
In the late 1940’s, Millarville community members and local ranchers discussed replacing the old Rancher’s Hall, which was situated west of Millarville on Joe Fisher’s property. Deciding on the new location created quite a controversy. Some wanted it built in the Millarville Community and some wanted a hall at the Racetrack so two halls were built – Rancher’s Hall and Racetrack Hall. The newer Rancher’s Hall is located in the hamlet of Millarville, adjacent to Millarville Community School.
The Morley Trail
The Morley Trail figures prominently in Millarville history as a major conduit of the Stoney and Eden Valley natives. Many a time we had natives stopping and trading various wares for potatoes, fuel, ammunition etc.
