The Search for Dorothy
I often wonder if perhaps I was born in the wrong era. I was born in the 70s; however, I know I would have enjoyed growing up in the 50s. In 1985 I dressed up in 1950s sock hop style for a Halloween party at school. I recall not wanting to change back into regular clothes after the party, and wishing that I could dress that way more often.
If I had grown up in the 1950s I would have gone to dances wearing long skirts with cute poodles on them, or polka dot swing dresses while swing dancing to Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets and The Big Bopper. I would have rocked and rolled to Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis. I would have listened to Patsy Cline, Connie Francis, Paul Anka, Ella Fitzgerald, The Platters and The Coasters records. Ok I am probably starting to get carried away, but you get the picture right?
The 40s is another era that I would have enjoyed taking up residency in. If I had grown up in the 1940s I would have visited the town which has become my latest intrigue, Dorothy, Alberta. Cue the flashback sequence music and visuals please.
It started about two months ago during another late night of browsing the internet, when suddenly an article popped up titled Abandoned Towns in Alberta. On that list of abandoned towns was a place called Dorothy. This seems to be happening to me a lot lately. Isn’t it uncanny how the internet seems to telepathically know when I am up late at night researching abandoned places?
About a month ago my husband and I decided to take a day trip to the town of Dorothy. It is only about a two hour drive away, and since I can’t afford to visit Holland Island, I thought Dorothy would be an interesting place. I was expecting to see shabby buildings that looked as though they were about to keel over; however, I was pleasantly surprised that the churches and school were well preserved. There were many unanswered questions I had; so after we got home I began searching for more information about Dorothy. My search led me to the Sheep River Library in Turner Valley where I found a book called The Grass Roots of Dorothy 1895–1970 by Hazel B. Roen.
This interesting book that was published in 1971 recounts how Dorothy, which was formally known as Circus Coulee became a once prosperous town formed by people who arrived from England, Scotland, The United States and other parts of Canada in search of better opportunities. This fascinating place that was named after Mrs. Dorothy Wilson Fairbanks, the daughter of the post office inspector Jack Wilson, is respectfully illustrated though Roen. Roen’s narrations equally depict both the rise and downfall of Dorothy.
Roen captures this town’s essence as well as provides an authentic and descriptive interpretation of hardships ranchers and homesteaders endured while trying to maintain their livelihoods. Roen offers picturesque descriptions of those hardships that occurred due to prairie fires, drought, livestock disease, and dust and snow storms that temporarily hindered resource production. Roen elaborates how the great depression, crop failures and the Second World War contributed to Dorothy’s demise prompting its inhabitants to relocate.
Leaving no stone unturned Roen provides highlights of Dorothy’s successes that included the construction of the railway in 1928, the addition of the post office, school, grain elevators, and the Stampede in 1937. Though the dusty grass lands of Dorothy are neither abandoned nor forgotten, as there are still a few families remaining.
Roen provides vivid narratives of retrieved stories from former residents of Dorothy. A few anecdotes are included by Russell Kidd about when he arrived in Dorothy in 1928 as a carpenter and built a general store. I laughed out loud in the coffee shop while reading one story in particular involving a school teacher and a whoopee cushion.
I came in possession of a whoopie ball while at the store. A beautiful young teacher came into the store and wanted to wait for a ride to her new school. I brought in a chair and told her to make herself comfortable while she waited. Naturally, I had put the whoopie under a nice soft cushion. It’s a wonder she didn’t take a fast train back to the city. – (Roen, 1971, p. 166).
I could just imagine the look on that innocent school teacher’s face as she sat on that chair. Mr. Kidd seemed like he was a hilarious man; if I grew up in the 40s I definitely would have befriended him. We would have had a blast playing jokes on store customers with his whoopee ball. What a time we would have had pranking the entire town.
If I grew up in the 40s perhaps I would have been friends with Hazel B. Roen. Maybe I could have helped her write the book about Dorothy; I could have tracked down its former inhabitants and interviewed them. I spent a year researching and locating former residents of Okotoks in order to produce my novella The Manse’s Voice. I know I would have been very useful to Hazel B. Roen. If only we had known each other in a former life.
It is possible that I once resided in Dorothy in a former life. Thank you to Hazel B. Roen for writing such a beautiful book. Thank you to Mrs. Dorothy Wilson Fairbanks for stirring my curiosity about your hometown. I hope one day a random person’s inquisitiveness leads her, as mine once led me to that dusty book on a library shelf. Thank you to Russell Kidd for your humorous anecdotes; perhaps one day we shall meet one another in another lifetime under some amusing circumstances.
Do you ever feel like you were born in the wrong era? If you could grow up in any era, which one would you choose? If you could meet anyone from that era, who would it be?
References:
Roen, Hazel, B. (1971) The Grass Roots of Dorothy 1895–1970. Calgary, Alberta: Northwest Printing & Lithographing.