From Work Camp to Creekside Community
The Origins & Evolution of Canmore‚ Restwell
The coming of the CPR‚ transcontinental railroad was the first truly formative event in Canmore‚ 126-year history. The coming of the Trans-Canada Highway nearly 70 years later was the second.
Work on the highway through Canmore began in the early 1950s; and within just a few years, the presence of another major trade corridor precipitated a wave of change through the town, as the sudden surge of competition from further afield forced many local businesses to adapt‚ or close their doors.
One such business was the Canmore Dairy. Located at the heart of Canmore on the lands now known as Spring Creek, Canmore Dairy was established in 1927 by Franklin and Georgina Kernick ‚ the grandparents of Spring Creek‚developer, Frank Kernick. As the new Trans-Canada paved the way for larger dairy producers to do business in Canmore, smaller farms like Canmore Dairy had to reinvent themselves or go out of business.
In the 1950, Franklin Kernick passed away, leaving Georgina in need of a new source of income. Her sons Jack and Don, who worked as carpenters at the Banff Centre, purchased some old Banff cabins and moved them to Canmore ‚ right beside Canmore dairy‚ original farmhouse. So began Restwell cabins.
The location where the cows had once grazed served perfectly as a camp for the construction workers laying the Trans-Canada Highway through the Bow Valley. This site later evolved into a trailer park and campground that the Kernick brothers would work for the rest of their lives.
Today Frank Kernick is the steward of the family land; and under his guardianship, a sizable number of Restwell Trailer Park‚ mobile and recreational homes remain on the Spring Creek site. Its continued presence speaks resoundingly to Frank‚ care and respect for the people who have long called Canmore home. As development at Spring Creek proceeds, new condominium lodges will gradually replace Restwell‚ mobile homes; but rather than displacing Restwell‚ residents, Frank is providing opportunities for eligible residents who so desire to buy into Spring Creek‚Äôs new lodges as part of the community‚ Perpetual Affordable Housing Option.
