Rhubarbarians All

By: Joe Donnelly

The Rhubarb Patch, the first of Inglewood's four seniors residences, is 32 years old, barely into its really sexy years. Elaine Smith, a Calgary Herald staff writer, published the article below in the Monday, March 7, 1977 edition of the Calgary Herald (a copy of the article is framed and hanging in the entrance to The Patch). Her story lets us know that the place is already on its third or fourth history, and also offers a whole lot more information about rhubarb than anyone could possibly want to know.

Old Folks Find New Home In The Rhubarb Patch

By Elaine Smith
The Rhubarb Patch is an unlikely name for an old folks' home. But this is a piece of property with a past.
When the Inglewood senior citizens' complex opened its doors to occupants last week, it welcomed some of Calgary's pioneer residents to a home on one of the city's earliest sites. Threatened by freeways, proposed as a park, the controversial property on the south side of the 12th Street bridge to the zoo has entered another phase in the colorful history to which its name pays tribute.

"It's a good thing the province decided to go along with our name suggestion," said Molly Cropper of the Inglewood Housing Corporation. "The people would have called it that anyway."

The complex is a 24-unit, rent-to-income apartment building and 12 individual townhouse units. Inglewood Housing owns the townhouses and manages both the apartments and townhouses. The old people's residence is the outcome of more than a quarter-century of conflicts with city hall over the property's fate.

In its past, the Rhubarb Patch was a market garden at the root of a neighborhood's activities. Its various owners harvested the fleshy stalk that was the basis of homemade hooch and a pleasingly tart dessert. They also raised small animals on the 1.5-acre plot on the banks of the Bow. Magnus Brown, a carpenter and contractor built the simple frame house with the porch on two sides and the balanced gables on the lot in the late 1880s. As sales of his backyard crop increased, it was dubbed the "rhubarb house" by the local citizenry. Brown sold the house and land to a Mr. Laurendeau, "a little short fellow with a pointed nose who used to pace back and forth like a raccoon," the later residents recall.

Laurendeau would sit back in his wooden chair on the porch precariously rocking while neighborhood buyers picked their rhubarb from his field. Apparently he charged according to his whim of the moment.
While Brown cashed his produce for three cents a pound, Laurendeau's gardener got a reputation for putting his foot on the scales when he took the harvested crop to the wholesaler's. At any rate, rhubarb more than paid the property taxes. During the war years, Laurendeau began to worry about falling land values. He sold the patch property to Martial Servonnet, a railroad machinist, for $2,500 in 1943.

Servonnet Sr. and his sons Max and Mark continued the rhubarb patch until 1969 when they sold the property to a real estate developer who, in turn, sold it to the city. The Servonnet sons recall tending the gardens as youths. "Three pounds for a quarter, 15 for a dollar, $2.50 for forty pounds. I must have said that a hundred times a day," said Max Servonnet. "You had three types of rhubarb," added Mark

"Strawberry was half red and half green. It was the tenderest. McDonald was tougher and Ruby was red all the way up, all right, but you could have used it for a drumstick, it was that tough."
The boys spread the manure on the rows of rhubarb in the late fall or early spring, then cultivated and watered the crop. Later they cut and sold it. "Our biggest buyer was the Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills," Max said. "They would buy six to eight tons a year. We also sold to the Hutterites at Beiseker but they only used it for wine. They never added sugar to it and the wine was so bitter you had to hold the table when you drank it. We'd sell about 25 to 30 tons in a year," he said.
Around the neighborhood, the popular way to eat rhubarb was as a dessert combination with saskatoons or chokecherries. Sugar rationing in the war years dictated local sales. But it was the farm animals, not the rhubarb, that got the Servonnets into their tangles with city hall. "We had goats, guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens," Mark said. "The manure was good for the rhubarb, the goats gave good nourishing milk, and the guinea pigs were sold to the provincial labs. But the city inspectors were coming around every two weeks. They told us we couldn't keep animals in the city," he said.

The Servonnets ended up in court twice over the issue, pointing out that animals were kept in the zoo across the way. Charges were dropped. "We had a lot of fun with the city over this," said Max. "Finally we sold out." A developer sold the land to the city in 1970 for 69,000 dollars. Martial Servonnet was pleased about the new Rhubarb Patch. His sons say if he had not died last fall, Servonnet Sr. would have moved back in as a senior citizen. The new tenants plan to keep the lot's history alive, though. The heart-shaped leaves and tall stalks of fresh rhubarb will grow in two concrete pots at the front of the buildings.

Obituary

Submitted by Pat Abbott
WILLY GUNNARSSON, beloved husband of Betty, passed away on Sunday May 10, 2009 at the age of 80. Willy came to Calgary from Denmark in 1952. He married Betty Rogers in 1970 and lived on New Street until 1974 when they moved to 8th Avenue across from St. John's Church. Willy is also survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Kelly and Steve Kurtz; grandson Jared; sister-in-law Gloria Rogers; mother-in-law Nora Scabar; and nieces and nephews in Denmark. Willy worked for Associated Grocers and was a volunteer Marshall at McCall Lake Golf Course. Betty has been a valuable bingo volunteer and member of the Newsletter Collating Team over the years and we look forward to her return soon.

Remebering Gerry

With great appreciation from your friends at the Alexandra Centre Society
We remember Gerry Cropper as someone with an infectious smile, and an even more contagious laugh. Gerry was always welcoming and kind. While he was a quiet presence, he never backed down from making his opinion known; one could always expect straight talk from Gerry and a good story as well. He was ever on the watch for what City Council was doing... nothing escaped him. Gerry loved Inglewood, discussing politics, his family, the Blackfoot Truck Stop, horse racing, and the Alexandra Centre, where he volunteered many hours. We don't think that he ever knew how much he contributed. Gerry would beam most of all when he talked of Molly, his wife of almost 60 years... she was his greatest pride and joy and in Gerry's eyes should have been the Alderman (she would have made an excellent one). Gerry you may be gone, but never forgotten, rest well Gerry.