A Residential Street in Bassano Alberta

The location is a residential street in Bassano Alberta and we’re armed with an old photo to be used in a special way. That can only mean one thing, you know…it’s Then and Now time! Presenting two images showing the same location, the same subjects and and taken from the same angle, but captured perhaps a hundred years apart.

Change? Yes, there’s certainly been some, but there’s an almost timeless quality here. It’s just an ordinary scene, really, like any other street view in any other town, but now we’re captivated. Here’s the place long ago, back when Bassano was new and here it is again more recently.

Truth be told, we’ve sat on this one for many years now and resisted posting. There’s something about the comparison that bugs us. If we overlay one photo over the other, they line up almost perfectly, but displayed as a stack, the look is…I don’t know…wonky. Perhaps it has to do with the batman angle of the first image and the imbalance it gives the photo. Everything looks like it’ll slide off to the right at any moment and end up in a big messy pile.

The original comes thanks our friends at Prairie-Towns.com and appears to be some kind of promotional photo. While it seems like an odd, rather everyday subject, it may have been part of a town-tour series, which were common in the early days. Snap some pics of downtown, the train station, add in a few residential views and show it to the world. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll convince someone to set down roots.

There’s no date listed for the original, so we’ll have to guess. Bassano goes back to about 1910, and given the general newness of everything seen, suggests the photo could have captured early in the town’s history. Text on the image reads: “4 Av looking west Bassano” and that’s all we got from it.

Two houses feature prominent in the original pic and they’re both still standing today. The one in the foreground has changed a bit with the addition of dormers on the upper floor and also, the open porch was walled-in at some point so they could expand the living space. Still, it has the same character.

The second house has changed a fair bit, but in general form not all different from before. The houses further in the distance all appear to be gone now, save for one well down the block. It’s still standing too but obscured from view in our picture thanks to those trees.

Note the streets were of dirt/mud in the old days and what appears to be a horse-drawn wagon (partly cut off) can be seen on the right hand side of the photo. No other people are seen, but how about that windmill? Before town services (water, sewer) folks pulled from a well and did their business in a little shack out back.

In spite of the changes that have taken place, the scene feels no different really. The world is nothing like it was, generations have come and gone but it’s like this little corner of Bassano has been spared the passing of time.

If you have an old image from a personal collection you think we could use as fodder for an installment in this series, please contact us. We don’t get many submitted anymore, and don’t know why, but still welcome them. Most recent T&Ns have been sourced by us and that’s not a problem, but we love when our readers participate too.

The Then images appears to have been shot from a slightly higher position than ours. We didn’t notice it right away but can see that via the way the edge of the first house lines up with the dormer on the second, that we were a bit off. Perhaps the original photographer captured the image from a wagon or something. Oh well and it’s not a big sticking point anyway.

There’s a former Alberta Government Telephones exchange building just to the left of our shooting position. Dated 1920, it’s now a dwelling, but in the past housed switchgear and the operator for this service area. You know, that’s the person who helped connect your call, always had time for a little chit-chat and as a result of “accidentally” listening in on private conversations, an up-to-date repository for all local gossip.

The community has a really photogenic downtown and you can see it here: Downtown Bassano.

The population sits at about twelve hundred folks present day and agriculture drives local economy. In one way or another, everyone here seems connected back to the earth. Bassano was home base for the Team over a few days, for a number of history projects being done in the area, and we found the time here absolutely relaxing. We just walked about town when not working and it did wonders for our peace-of-mind.

Stay tuned for more posts like this. We’ve been crazily shooting for this series and even knowing many will not make the cut (only a small percentage do), still leaves a lot waiting on the wings. Plus we’ve got plans to shoot many more once spring arrives – all across Alberta, BC and maybe even Saskatchewan if we can get away.

Still don’t like the way this one looks.

Know more about the town (new tab): Bassano Alberta.

They’re saying…

”Wonderful articles on small forgotten towns. Several that I knew very well. Thanks for doing this.” Jan Tooth.

More like this…
Downtown Castor Alberta (Cosmopolitan Hotel).
Downtown Trout Lake British Columbia.
Loverna SK Then & Now (x2).
Munson Alberta then and now.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: August 2020 and maybe the 1920s.
Location(s): Bassano, Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Prairie-Towns.com, Town of Bassano and University of Calgary Archives.

A residential street in Bassano Alberta ~100 years apart.

Just to the left of our shooting position.

A closer look at the first house seen in the photo.

Just down the block we find this retro beauty.