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Radial Realty Co.

One company that dealt in these premature subdivisions was the Radial Realty Co., Ltd. Its name came from the Edmonton Interurban Railway between St. Albert and Edmonton whose land it controlled. It dealt in a variety of land investments, including city and suburban land, farm lands, coal areas, and timber limits. Its suburban properties included the subdivisions of Summerland, Radial Park, and Queen Mary Park, which were located between St. Albert and Edmonton.

The company's efforts to promote Queen Mary Park included letters to delegates at a teachers' convention in Edmonton in April 1911. Interested delegates were advised that "every one in Edmonton who can possibly do so is investing in lots. It is in this way that those who have made fortunes have won the major portion if their wealth."

People who had already purchased land in the subdivision were encouraged to sell it at a profit and buy more. As the company explained to one owner, "our business is buying and selling real estate, and as this is the way in which people generally make their money on land investment, we are going to ask you to co-operate with us so that we may all make money. . . Thus," the letter concluded, "the pot will be kept a-boiling."

This article is extracted from John Gilpin, Responsible Enterprise: A History of Edmonton Real Estate & the Edmonton Real Estate Board. (Edmonton: Edmonton Real Estate Board, 1997). The Heritage Community Foundation and the Alberta Real Estate Foundation would like to thank John Gilpin and the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton for permission to reproduce this material.

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