League History

Strathcona Centre is one of the oldest community leagues in the city of Edmonton. Citizens of Strathcona formed the South-Side Community League in 1918. Members of South-Side gathered at locales such as the South-Side Library and the assembly hall at King Edward School. By 1926, when the league’s name was changed to Strathcona Centre, it had a rink next to the King Edward School. A clubhouse was added in the late 1920’s. By 1939, a second rink was in operation. The rinks were converted to lacrosse and tennis courts during the summer months.

Scona Centre built a playground at 10137 – 87th Avenue in 1950. … [F]ire destroyed the Strathcona Centre clubhouse in 1955 … League programs ceased for a number of years. They were started up again only in 1960 when the King Edward Home and School Association helped the league regenerate.

Scona Centre Community League had a new rink complex by 1961. By centennial year, a hall worth $13,000 was also on site. The hall was ‘an old resident’ of Strathcona, acquired from Weldon ‘Tubby’ Bateman for the sum of $1.

With the coming of the 1970s, there was a sudden influx of younger families into Scona and it seemed likely the league’s membership of 150 would substantially enlarge. Facility development was on the front burner once more. A building committee was struck under Dennis Greentree.

Tennis courts were built at Scona in 1979. By the summer of 1982, a $1 million community complex was complete. The building’s red-brick hall …was designed with the historic and architectural context of Old Strathcona in mind.

Excerpted from: Bowker, Vaughn and Michael Wanchuk. Volunteers: Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues: A History of the largest Volunteer Organization in North America. Edmonton: Lone Pine Publishing, 1986. 365-367.