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The History of Nobleford
Named after Charles Noble, who owned large tracts of
land and constructed many of the areas first buildings, the hamlet of
Noble (later Nobleford) was established in 1909. The following year, the C.S. Noble family moved from Claresholm to their new land, situated
approximately 32 kilometres from Lethbridge. The same year, the area post
office was constructed.
In fairly short order, Noble opened a branch office of the Milnes and
Noble Real Estate Company and the area continued to develop. Until 1913,
the hamlet was known as Noble, however, in order to differentiate between
it and a town in Ontario of the same name, the name was changed to Nobleford.
Because of record-breaking crops in 1915 and 1916, the hamlet was booming.
In 1918, with approximately 100 residents, Nobleford was incorporated as a
village and Charles Noble elected its first mayor. At that time, the
village included a brick bank building, pool hall, restaurant, ice cream
parlour, general store, one-room school hall, several blacksmiths and a
30-room hotel called "McDougall House".
Unfortunately, in 1929, McDougall House was ruined in a fire. The
community, nevertheless, continued to grow and that same year, the
Calgary
Power franchise introduced electricity to the area. Nobles Company was established in the 1930s and quickly became the
primary employer in the community. The company, an agricultural
manufacturer, later changed its name to New Noble and served the community
until 1998. Today, the former Noble company building is occupied by Keho
Industries and Agri-Tech Manufacturing.
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Heritage Community Foundation All Rights Reserved
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