Nightingale Colony House

This house is a fine example of one of the thousands of “ready-made” houses and farms constructed by colonization companies to attract immigrants to the North West Territories. The Nightingale Colony, was started in response to requests by the Salvation Army for “assisted settlement” for those disappointed in their applications for smallholdings from the subdivision of large estates in England.

The colony was developed by the Canadian Pacific Irrigation Company in 1909, and divided into 24 plots of about 80 acres each, east of Strathmore, Alberta. The Company built 28-foot-by-12-foot clapboard houses and small barns, erected fences, turned the sod and dug wells for the British settlers, who arrived via a special train from Winnipeg in 1910. This colony house was donated to Heritage Park in 1977.