201. Otter Farmers Institute

Limited Edition Watercolour Giclee Print, (unframed) sn150, ap15, pp6

14 x 21 (inches) sn $240, ap$270, pp$300

From a Watercolour painting by Brian Croft

It was in the 1880’s and 90’s that the folks really began arriving in this place. Eventually called Otter, it was a place no more than the intersection of Yale road and a rutted wagon trail from the States called Otter road. They struggled there mostly on foot, all looking for the same thing, a piece of land to call home. Otter was high ground and tough land to settle. They cleared trees, stumps, and rocks uncovering land good and bad. They scratched out a rough road here and there to get about and when something big was to be done they did it together.

Together, in 1922, they did something really big and created the Otter Farmers Institute; straight to the point, they wrote the first bylaw on the books: “….improve conditions of rural life so that settlement may be permanent and prosperous”.

The Institute, always a practical place, sold what they needed: stumping powder to clear more land, seed for the new land, feed for stock, hardware, fuel, turpentine, paint and finally in 1935 they began selling groceries. Membership? $1 to join….. even today!

This painting has its origins in a telephone call from Joan Beck, an Otter Co-op board member. Joan asked if I might be willing to do a painting of the original store based on two old photos she found on the wall of the Co-op. I happily melded the two images into one, moving the old Shell gasoline pump just into view and added plenty of sunshine. The original painting is now owned by the Co-op, but the magic of Giclee printing has made The Otter Farmers Institute available to you!

Brian Croft