Home to the oldest primary grain elevator still standing in the province, Raley, Alberta took its name in 1902 from C. Raley, a prominent resident in Lethbridge. The community was home to three grain elevators - a 30,000 bushel elevator built by A.G. Robertson, a 15,000 bushel elevator operated by Sunny Belt Grain Elevator Company Ltd. and the Alberta Pacific that still stands today. In 1910 a post office opened, and the Raley School No. 2099 was built just east of the grain elevators.
After the arrival of the St. Mary's River Railway, a 35,000 bushel elevator was constructed by the Alberta Pacific Elevator Company in 1905. To increase capacity, an annex was added in 1940. The Federal Grain Company bought the elevator in 1967 and operated the elevator until 1972 when they sold it to the Alberta Wheat Pool. Shortly after acquiring it, Alberta Wheat Pool sold the elevator to the West Raley Hutterite Colony, who still use the annex to store fertilizer.
In the southwest corner of our beautiful province, the Alberta Pacific grain elevator still clad in most of its tin siding, and the annex displaying CPR red paint still stand proud with the picturesque rocky mountains as a backdrop.
