Rocks and Stones littered Main Street in Early Years

The main street in Cochrane, in the early days, was something to be desired. The street was dirt with huge rocks and stones on it, plus many mud holes when it rained. The first main street ran from one end of the village to the other. In the east end of the village, the avenue called Pope Avenue, which runs north and south or north from the new R.C.M.P. building was the road going through town and up the hill. It ran up the hill to the first plateau, went on the south side of Copithorne’s place and made a wide sweep around the hill to the east. 

In later years, about 1927, it was made farther up the hill, near the village, to where it turns now down into town, in line with the new post office, then west down the main street. In front of the new post office, the village fathers planted an eight-inch round post in the center of the street, then put boards around the post to make a square box, which was about six feet high. The signpost acquired the name of the “Silent Policeman”. The Silent Policeman had a sign and arrow on it pointing out the route to Calgary. The post stood there until the next Halloween when some small fry (not me this time) got a large wooden toilet on some kind of wagon or truck. They backed up to the Silent Policeman and dumped the toilet over it. The post of the Policeman came up through the hole, and there she sat. 

The next morning, someone had put up the dining room sign from the hotel over the door of the shanty. There was quite an uproar as to how the toilet could be raised up over the post. Chapman Bros. garage tow truck was brought into play as it was the only apparatus in town with a winch on it; a hand winch at that. It took the better part of the day to get the toilet high enough to clear the post. Then after all this work, the town fathers thought they should put a cement Policeman there. They built it big and strong; about four feet across at the base and about two feet at the top. In the face of this huge block, the workmen installed a big red reflector. One of the local farmers, who had too much to drink at the local watering hole, drew up to it with his car and waited half hour for the light to change to green. However, as time went on and traffic got heavier, there were some bad accidents on the turn at the bottom of the hill such as the Police barracks smash. The powers that be decided to move some houses and make a straight run through town. That is the way the road is now, with some more changes contemplated.