Medicine Hat Then & Now – Ogilvie’s

It’s freakin’ huge! We’re standing on the lip of a valley overlooking this towering structure, just a block or two distant, and its highest point is eye level with us. Wow! Imagine all the concrete and steel that went into it, back when, and one can’t help be impressed. What an undertaking to construct it with lots of skill and expertise needed. And now we look at it with uncertain eyes…what’s in store? This is the Ogilvie Flour Mill in Medicine Hat Alberta, going back a century, that presently stands empty and disused.

Here we won’t do a full on history report (that’s for post to be done later, we hope), but still we’ll speak a little of its backstory and chat about what’s changed (and hasn’t) over time. This is a BIGDoer.com Then & Now approach, where we take a vintage photo, shoot another present day that duplicates the angle and composition as closely as possible, then ramble on (insistently) about what’s seen. These are always popular posts, and take a lot of effort, even if most never work out.

The building dates from the early 1910s and has had numerous additions and upgrades over the years. Even so, it retains most of its original form. On a plot of land in Lower Medicine Hat (the oldest part of the city) it’s a bit southeast of downtown. They made flour here (and bran, cake mixes wheat germ, cereals, chicken feed and other ground-grain products) with inbound raw materials and outbound finished products moving by rail. A spur off the CPR mainline was their connection to the outside world. Later trucks would take many of the duties.

The Ogilvie firm once had a network of small town grain elevators across Alberta and Saskatchewan to feed this operation. Here’s one that’s still standing: The Last Wood Ogilvie. Grain would arrive in boxcar (later modern hoppers), get ground up in specialized machinery (noisy and dusty), packaged up and get shipped out Canada or even world wide.

The Ogilvie firm was bought up by US conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland circa 1990 who continued to operate the plant into 2013. A shrinking market and old building inefficiencies were two reasons given for the closure.

On unloading, grain was put into storage in those tall concrete cylindrical silos. There’s a whole bank of them to the right. From there, it would go on to the processing and packaging plants, at the two buildings to the left connected by an elevated bridge type structure. Finally, the finished product would be taken to the storage warehouse, the long and low arched roof building in the foreground. Then it was off to some distributor, then the shelves of Safeway and soon your mom’s kitchen. It’s baking time! Later Ogilvie would also produce Five Roses Flour on taking over the Lake of the Woods Milling Company (who had a mill nearby, still standing), a long time competitor, in addition to its own Ogilvie’s Royal brand.

The Ogilvie Mill was a big time employer in Medicine Hat for many years.

It’s not presently known what will happen to the building. It’s still functional, we’re told, but who want’s such a plant? Not a whole lot of flour mill startups these days and I doubt the last owner would want the competition anyway. For now, it’s a holding pattern. Given its construction, it’d be a costly one to demolish, that’s for certain.

On to present day, we’ve come equipped with an old public domain photo (postcard?) via a loyal reader (thanks Jason), our goal to find the same spot and shoot a similar picture. Easy right? And it was! We quickly found the location where the original photographer stood a century or so ago. There it was. The jut of land is so narrow it’d be near impossible to get it wrong. We’re were happy how it all lined up, but still there’s that fall away issue that comes with top over bottom comparisons like this.

We know nothing in regards to the origins of the photo but it appears to be part of a series. We’ve found others shot in the Hat showing various street scenes, that use the same font and similarly are numbered as this one.

The building, as you can see, is little changed over time. We believe the old photo was captured soon after the building was finished. There’s been that warehouse addition and those extra storage bins were added at some point, but otherwise it looks original. On the grounds today, there’s less trees. It’s not clear when the the big Ogilvie signage was was put in, but it does not show in the then picture. Instead, there’s some signage (unreadable) on other areas of the building. Some of the latter appears to be bleeding through on the cupola above the storage silos today. On the far side unseen is additional signage. Note the tall lightning rod on the left of the structure (hard to see but it’s there, both images). A fire here would be disastrous. Grain, grain dust, flour dust, it’s all explosive, so measures had to be taken.

Note the misspelling of Ogilvie on the postcard using a y instead of the proper i and e.

When built the Ogilvie Mill was on the edge of town. Now it’s deep inside. Notice the houses in back above the building on what was before bald prairie. This photo demonstrates Medicine Hat well – it’s flat sections, former grasslands and deep steep walled valleys as you get closer to the mighty South Saskatchewan River.

A group of 1960s apartments across the way will soon become fodder for another Then & Now. Stay tuned, but it won’t come fast (book deal is keeping us busy). And what’s that on looking hard right, a small fibreglass trailer? It’s not a Boler but a more common Trillium. But February, when this was shot, is a slow time for any, so we’ll take it.

The Team has put in request to document the Ogilvie Flour Mill up close and personal. Like go inside the grounds if we can. As yet unanswered, we’re hoping we could pay it a visit, shoot some photos and then do a more detailed history on the building to share with you all here. Time will tell, but if anything, we’re persistent and will keep on it. This might be a tough nut to crack.

Please tell us what you think in the comments below the photos. We’d love to hear from you!

They’re saying…

”Love history and local history best. You bring to life that which has been forgotten, just curious and always interesting.” Richard O’Connor.

Then & Now overload…
Loverana SK Then & Now (x2).
5th Ave Hanna Alberta.
Sandon BC Then & Now.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date of Adventure: February, 2020.
Location(s): Medicine Hat, AB.
Article references and thanks: Historic Resources, City of Medicine Hat.
The Ogilvie Elevator can be viewed from many public locations in town.

About a century apart.

This is Ogilvie’s, Medicine Hat.

Apartments soon to be fodder for another then & now.

Spinning around…what’s this…?