What's In A Name

In the boom year 1910, the Cypress Club was instrumental in saving the city’s colorful name, which “so echoes the Cree and Blackfoot tradition of red mystery and romance that once filled the Prairies.” (Rudyard Kipling)

The “boomers” wanted to change Medicine Hat to something more genteel. But they reckoned without the diehards in the Club. At an informal meeting in their favorite resort, these diehards “discussed and cussed” the proposal and decided to enlist the aid of famed writer Rudyard Kipling.

The author had been in the city three years earlier to have a “glorious time” with the club members. A letter to Kipling evinced a lengthy reply frothing with distaste for the notion of renaming the city. His last paragraph was the most venomous:

“What, then, should a city be rechristened that has sold its name? Judasville.”

Rudyard Kipling

The city kept its name.

Except for minor interior alterations, the building today is as it was designed and erected in 1907.

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