Post Office

Before this post office was built in 1961, mail service was contracted by various businesses. The year the Park opened, the original Waskesiu Lake Lodge provided service, followed by the Red Deer Hotel, the Pleasant Inn, the Arcade Stores, and Park Centre. 

In the days before email and cell phones, the postal service was the way to stay in touch. For locals, there were individual metal boxes in the lobby. Seasonal residents could have their mail forwarded from home to General Delivery and ask the post mistress for it. The post mistresses (Ma Sissons, Nellie Schmidt, Evelyn Paul, Terry Genick, and Willie Schachtel) saw people daily and knew who was in town because of the regular mail pick up.  With the closure of the Post Office, Canada Post "super boxes" were installed in the adjoining parking lot for residents to pick up mail in their individual boxes.  

Sending postcards (see examples below) home from your holiday in Waskesiu was a must. Mail service was so regular and efficient that friends and family received the postcards before you arrived home from vacation. In the early days, the postcards were sketches or black and white photographs often coloured before printing. Later, local shops carried racks of beautiful postcards made with coloured photographs of scenes or wildlife of the Park. On the reverse side was just enough room for a stamp, an address, and a brief greeting like: “Having a great time in Waskesiu!” or “Wish you were here!”