1

The store was a social and gathering place for the community.
1937
Dickson, Alberta, Canada

2

The Dickson general store not only provided the goods and materials needed by people in the area, but it also helped to create a neighborly feeling among them.

3

The store was the hub of activity in the community.
1930
Dickson, Alberta, Canada

4

The store was the hub of the community; here people met to do their shopping, pick up their mail, and hear the news. The store was a meeting place for farmers who rarely saw each other in their day-to-day lives. It gave folks a chance to discuss the weather, crops, and to hear the local gossip.

5

The store had one of the few radios in the community.
1925

6

The store was a link to the outside world. The Christiansen store had the only phone and one of the only radios in Dickson in the early years. Occasionally, the home above the store was filled with students and teachers who came to listen to special radio programs.

7

Gordon Christiansen talks about how the store telephone was an important service to the community.
2002

8

One of the many services of the storekeeper was to relay messages that came in via the phone.

"At one time, then everybody, just about everybody, had a telephone. But then the hard times came and they couldn't afford to keep it up so they were taken out again and we were just about back to the way it was at first when this was the only phone. Because people would come here and use the phone and we'd take messages for people and sometimes it was not too pleasant to have to deliver a message about somebody passed away or something like that."

9

Cream night was an opportunity for farmers to gather and visit with one another.
1930
Dickson, Alberta, Canada

10

Cream nights were big evenings in Dickson; farmers from all over the area brought their cream to the store so that Carl could ship it to Markerville the following day. Cream was dumped in barrels and measured by the inch for payment. The cream shipments went out from Dickson once a week in the winter and twice a week in the summer. A local brought rhubarb to sell to farmers on cream nights. This money was put towards missions.

11

Typical selection of candy bars that were available in the store.
1930

12

Carl's birthday was also a big event in the community. All the school children were invited to the store during their noon recess and were allowed to choose their favorite chocolate bar.

13

Crowd gathered around steam engine outside store.
1935
Dickson, Alberta, Canada

14

People moving to a new area often made their first stop at the general store. Dickson was no exception; when a pioneer arrived in the hamlet in 1930 his first stop was the Christiansen store. At the store, he met with a mailman from Kevisville and a local farmer who told him of CPR land in the area. He used this information to find suitable land for his family.