Glimpses of the Past: June 19, 2025
Compiled by Adam Carter, Collections Assistant, Revelstoke Museum and Archives
Roy Smythe in front of his store at 308 Third Street West, circa 1910. Revelstoke Museum and Archive, P-599
130 years ago: The Kootenay Mail, June 15, 1895
W. Miller, one of the oldest bridge foremen of the local section of the C.P.R., was badly injured on the job. He was about three kilometres from Sicamous when he jumped off a train, having misjudged the speed and hit his head, badly bruising and mangling his nose, face and lip. Miller was sent to the Union Hotel in Revelstoke where he was cared for by a doctor.
120 years ago: Revelstoke Herald, June 15, 1905
Chaos ensued when a group of horses bolted uncontrollably from the City Hotel. Several pedestrians tried to stop them but they only ended up driving the animals into one of the windows of Roy Smythe’s store. A horse and buggy that was parked in front of the store also got tangled up in the mess, resulting in damage to the buggy and the window. No one was hurt but a few children were nearly run over.
110 years ago: Revelstoke Mail-Herald, June 19, 1915
The school board was presented with a petition calling for the reinstatement of J.S. Ross and R.D. Colpitts, the principals of Selkirk School and Central School, who had been asked to resign. The board argued that the principals were too lax in discipline and had no control over the students while the principals argued that the board was over stepping its authority. The petition ended up successful and the two were offered their positions back but Colpitts stuck to his principles and resigned.
100 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 17, 1925
Police received reports of a ‘wild man’ at large in town. According to several local boys and girls that spotted him, the man had stopped the kids on the street and then suddenly disappeared. After several days of searching, the police failed to find the wild man. They theorized that his behaviour was the result of too much drinking.
90 years ago: The Revelstoke Review, June 21, 1935
Parents and friends were very impressed by a showcase of little pianists. The music students were being taught by the Canadian Bureau for the Advancement of Music using new methods of rhythmic and ear training. The result of this was a performance of solos, duets, and quartets by the piano pupils that the parents were pleased with, proving the potential of these practice methods.
80 years ago: The Revelstoke Review, June 21, 1945
Flying officer, James McIntosh, arrived in Revelstoke after being held as a prisoner of war in Europe. McIntosh had been a POW since March of the previous year until the camp where he had been held was liberated during the closing days of the war. Upon return, McIntosh could not be induced to talk about what he experienced.
70 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 16, 1955
Magician, Emmett Cronan, came to Revelstoke for two shows where he would display his magic arts. For his first show, he planned to put a subject to sleep in a local store window, and for his second, he would do a two hour show of mental telepathy, mental magic, and hypnotism at the high school auditorium.
60 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 17, 1965
A jury reached a decision regarding the death of Thomas Mell, a seventy-two year old man, who had been shot by J. Victor Hajek in Mell’s cabin at Arrowhead in February of the same year. Witnesses testified that they heard a shotgun blast late at night and when they entered the cabin they saw Hajek prodding Mell with the weapon. Hajek was sentenced to four years for manslaughter.
50 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 19, 1975
Shots were fired inside of a home on Douglas Street, leading to police surrounding the house and cordoning off the nearby streets. After unsuccessfully trying to call the home phone multiple times, police decided to talk to the occupants of the house through a loudspeaker to get the man inside to surrender. Eventually, the man did surrender, walking out of his house at 5 AM, carrying his ten-month-old child.
40 years ago: Revelstoke Review, June 19, 1985
A handful of hooligans in the graduating class caused trouble with a year-end prank. The students defaced fourteen buildings in town with paint, including City Hall. Several students confessed to the vandalism after the graduation tea was threatened to be cancelled as punishment. The students who came forward were charged and the rest of the grad class worked to repaint and clean the vandalized buildings.
30 years ago: Revelstoke Times Review, June 17, 1995
At least twenty gravestones at Mountain View Cemetery were pushed to the ground by vandals late at night. According to police who investigated the scene the next morning, it was likely four or five people who vandalized the area but they had no leads and urged the community to speak out if they knew anything. The city planned to add additional fencing around the area as a result of the incident.
20 years ago: Revelstoke Times Review, June 15, 2005
The community raised $57,000 for cancer research during its Relay For Life event in Centennial Park, $23,000 more than it had raised the previous year. During the event, there were 240 registered in twenty one different relay teams as well as hundreds of locals cheering them on. The event was inaugurated by the Survivor’s Lap which consisted of over forty cancer survivors doing a lap around the track.