In the early years of Millet, there were a lot of changes coming to the young community. The railroad had already roared through and the community was starting to grow. Things were looking up for the community and the years of 1910 to 1912 were important ones.
The Millet Baseball Club would be organized in 1910 with J. Lambert serving as the president of the club and J. Smith becoming the manager. That same year, J.W. West, who had become postmaster the previous year, would have a small post office built on Railway Street.
Sadly, that same year, a fire would erupt and destroy several buildings along the south side of Alberta Street. Those building would be quickly rebuilt and the community would continue to grow and move on. There was a constant concern over fire and it was decided that anyone using stove pipes for flues would be notified that such practices would be discontinued and all flues built in Millet would be made of brick.
The next year would see E.P. Bennett serving as both overseer and secretary treasurer and a new law would be put in place that would state “All cattle found running at large in the village between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. after May 15 are to be impounded and the owners charged $1 per head for their release.”
A piece of land three acres in extent, near the Catholic Church, was also set aside as a public nuisance ground and a three wire fence was constructed. The Farmer’s Co-operative, which was a branch of the Wetaskiwin Co-op store, was bought from the Mullen Brothers and Bert Wilkinson would serve as manager. By this year, the population of Millet had also doubled since 1905, reaching 150 people.
In 1912, Mr. Gardner, who had owned the Arlington Hotel, sold the business to a Mr. Lachance. Arthur Morton also moved his house to Railway Street to be closer to the main road and his intention was to convert the front of his house into a store.
P. Larson was appointed as watchman that year and the town constable, earning two dollars a night. Council also looked at spending $1,000 to house the fire apparatus and a jail room but in the end decided to rent a shed for $2 a month. The station agent, Mr. Wilson, was also requested to have a waiting room open at all time with a light in it.
Millet would also get its first bank when the Imperial Bank of Canada began to rent out the hotel sample room on Alberta Street.
-Craig Baird
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