The Early Years on Nanton Street Lacombe, Alberta - Painted in 2004 by local muralist, Tim Giles (Location:  50th Street on the north wall of LA Mint) Looking south on Nanton Street, we see some of Lacombe's original merchant's buildings much as they stand today.  The Hotson Block was built by George Hotson in 1903 to house two separate businesses:  a jeweler's shop on the north side and a café on the south.  Such businesses were sure signs that civilization had arrived.  Lacombe's early settlers came from all over, including as far away as China.  Hop Chung, one of Lacombe's first Chinese residents, opened the Hop Chung Café and a laundry service on Nanton Street as early as 1904.  Mr. Chung wished to send for his wife and daughter to join him.  A head tax of $500 made such a sponsorship almost impossible.  His good friend and business associate MLA William Puffer came to his assistance, and in 1908 Chung's wife and daughter arrived in Lacombe, making Chung's wife one of less than a hundred Chinese women in all of Alberta.  Since 1900, William Puffer's butcher shop and Hop Chung's Café shared a building that came to be known as the Puffer Chung Block.