StettlerLocal.com January 5, 2022 @ 3:00pm
Herbert Alexander Blair (commonly referred to as H.A. Blair) was born in Green Valley, Ontario., and moved to Lachute, Quebec, where he worked in lumber camps. Blair says his experiences there helped him to be able to take care of himself. He admitted these experiences came in handy when having the odd heated argument in the early days of Stettler.
Blair arrived in Stettler in 1909 and was heavily involved in politics and business in the Stettler community right up until his passing in April 1966. In a 1964 interview with the Edmonton Journal, Blair was quoted as saying he came to Stettler “with a wife and a fifty-cent piece, and I still have both.”
When he arrived in Stettler on an excursion train, he quickly connected with a local implement dealer and sold a binder that very day. Within a week, he sold three more. Although he gradually branched out to different businesses, he still proudly wore the watch awarded to him in 1910 by International Harvester for top sales in Canada. In addition to farm implements, Blair also sold automobiles, insurance and, by the time of his death, was considered the ‘uncrowned’ king of real estate in the district.
Blair was the Conservative candidate in the Stettler district in 1930 and served 18 years on the town council. He served three terms as mayor, with 2 of those terms won by acclamation. Blair is noted as guiding Stettler through some of its most active periods of growth. It was reported he caused a slight stir during his time on council when he spent $1,000 without the proper authorization to plant trees down many of Stettler’s residential streets. He ended his last term as mayor in 1956.
Blair headed the Board of Trade for approximately seven years and believed to be the first in Alberta to push for more farm membership in the Board of Trade. Mr. Blair would also achieve Life Member of the Elks club by the time of his passing, having been a member of the organization for 40 years.
Carson Ellis, Local Historian
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