A BRIEF HISTORY OF EDMONTON

Believe it or not, the area that is now Edmonton, AB Canada has been inhabited since 3000 BC and possibly as early as 10,000 BC during the end of last ice age! 

​The first permanent settlement was established in 1795 by a group of Europeans who founded Fort Edmonton.  The fort served as headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company fur trade operations. The first settlements outside the fort were rustic log cabins built by pioneers along the North Saskatchewan river. The Town of Edmonton was established in 1894 around the Boyle Street and McCauley neighborhoods.

Edmonton finally got its first railway in 1903 and officially became a city in 1904. The capital of Alberta only had 5000 residents at the time. But the population exploded over the next decade, swelling to over 70,000 people by 1914!

The first licensed airfield in Canada began in what is now known as the Edmonton City Centre Airport in 1929. It put Edmonton on the map as the "Gateway to the North" as a major distribution point for mail, food, and medicine to Northern Canada.
Edmonton has grown by leaps and bounds throughout the years to its current population size of 960,000 people, making it the fifth largest city in Canada.

Known as "Canada's Festival City", Edmonton hosts seasonal events and festivals year-round. It is also home to the largest shopping mall in North America, the massive West Edmonton Mall.

The City of Champions is now a thriving cultural, educational, and provincial government hub. It's also a major staging point for the massive oil sands projects happening in northern Alberta.
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