Timeline of Edmonton history

This is a timeline of the history of Edmonton, Canada.

pre-settlement

• Indigenous peoples roamed Alberta for thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years. The rim of the river valley and its ravines and hilltops in Edmonton are known to have been well-used as campgrounds and look-out points during this time. Rabbit Hill, today's Mary Lobay Park, Mount Pleasant Cemetery and Huntington Heights (near Whitemud Freeway west of Calgary Trail) are known to be sites of human activity for millennia.

18th century

• 1754 – Anthony Henday, an explorer working for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area.[1]
• 1795 – Fort Edmonton was established on the north bank of the river near today's Fort Saskatchewan, as a major trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company.[2]

19th century

• 1810 Fort Edmonton moved to Rossdale, never again to move out of today's Edmonton.

• 1830 Fort Edmonton moved up hill, to near today's legislative Building.

• 1871 – The first private buildings outside the walls of Fort Edmonton, a Methodist church mission building and manse, built by George McDougall and his family. Mostly farmland or river lots.
• 1879 – Edmonton's first local exhibition.
• 1880 – Edmonton Bulletin published.
• 1886 – Edmonton's coldest temperature is recorded as −49.4 °C (−56.9 °F) January 19.[3]
• 1891 – Community of South Edmonton (Strathcona) established south of the river upon opening of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway.[4]
• 1892
  • Second McDougall Church was built at site of first church.
  • Edmonton incorporated as a town with a population of 700.[5]
• 1892 – Edmonton was incorporated as a town, with a population of 700.[5]
• 1897 – Edmonton was a starting point for people traveling overland to the Klondike Gold Rush.

20th century

Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) arrived in Edmonton in 1905.

• 1900 – Low Level Bridge completed.
• 1903
  • Edmonton Journal founded.
  • Methodist Church Board founds Alberta College
• 1904 – Incorporated as a city in 1904 with a population of 8,350.[5]
• 1905
  • Edmonton became the capital of Alberta, as Alberta joined Confederation.
  • Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) arrived in Edmonton, accelerating growth.
• 1907-14 – real estate and construction boom. With amalgamation of Cities of Strathcona and Edmonton, the population of Edmonton grew to 72,500. New land from the Hudson Bay Co reserve as put on the market and sold, with the money raised by the sales going to HBC headquarters out of the province. This helped cause real estate prices to drop. With the start of World War I, the city's population declined, going from 72,000 in 1914 to under 54,000 in only two years, people leaving to eke out existence on farms, or off to war, or to other centres.[5]
• 1907 – Six workers die in a fire at the Strathcona Coal Company.
• 1908
  • Edmonton Eskimos hockey team makes the city's first appearance at the Stanley Cup finals.
  • Strathcona Canadian Pacific Railway Station completed.
  • University of Alberta established.
• 1909 – Arlington Apartments completed.
• 1910 – Third McDougall Church completed, dedicated in the honour of George McDougall.
• 1911 – Connaught Armoury built.
• 1912
  • Edmonton amalgamated with the city of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River; as a result, the city extended south of the river.
  • First Presbyterian Church completed.
• 1913
  • Alberta Legislature Building completed.
  • High Level Bridge opened.
  • Robertson-Wesley United Church completed.
• 

  The Hotel Macdonald in downtown Edmonton
  1915
  • Fort Edmonton dismantled.
  • Hotel Macdonald opened.
  • North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 leaves 2000 homeless.
• 1917 – Edmonton annexes Calder.
• 1918–1919 – Spanish Flu kills 614 Edmontonians.
• 1920 – Edmonton Symphony Orchestra holds its first performance.
• 1922
  • CJCA begins broadcasting as city's first radio station.
  • Edmonton Grads win the Canadian Basketball Championship. The tean wins this competition each year from 1922 to 1940.
• 1923 – Edmonton Grads win the World Basketball Championships.
• 1924 – The Edmonton Art Gallery opened for the first time.
• 1929 – Blatchford Field (now Edmonton City Centre (Blatchford Field) Airport) commenced operation.[6]
• 1930 – Canadian Derby established.
• 1937 – Edmonton's hottest temperature (until 1998) is recorded as 37.2 °C on June 29.
• 1938
  • Al-Rashid Mosque completed.
  • Clarke Stadium completed.
• 1947 – The first major oil discovery in Alberta was made near the town of Leduc, south of Edmonton.[7]
• 1940s and 1950s – The subsequent oil boom gave Edmonton new status as the "Oil Capital of Canada", and during the 1950s, the city increased in population from 149,000 to 269,000.[5] After a relatively calm but still prosperous period in the 1960s, the city's growth took on renewed vigour concomitant with high world oil prices, triggered by the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s ended abruptly with the sharp decline in oil prices on the international market and the introduction of the National Energy Program in 1981; that same year, the population had reached 521,000.[5]
• 1942 – A record-breaking snowfall of 39.9 centimetres hits Edmonton on November 15.
• 1947 – St. Josaphat Cathedral completed.
• 1947–1965 – Suburban boom began.
• 1948 – Edmonton Flyers wins the Allan Cup.
• 1950 – Edmonton Mercurys win the Ice Hockey World Championships
• 1951 – Edmonton Bulletin ceases production.
• 1952
  • Clover Bar Bridge completed.
  • Edmonton Mercurys win the Olympic Gold medal.
• 1953 – Nationwide epidemic, 16 Edmontonians died from poliomyelitis.
• 1954 – Edmonton Eskimos win their first Grey Cup.
• 1955
  • Groat Bridge completed.
  • Westmount Centre opened as the city's first shopping mall.
• 1957 – Jubilee Auditorium opened.
• 1959 – Valley Zoo opened.
• 1961 – Beverly, Alberta amalgamated with the City of Edmonton.
• 1962
  • Edmonton's local exhibition had been renamed to Klondike Days.
  • Northern Alberta Institute of Technology established.
• 1963
  • Edmonton Oil Kings win their first Memorial Cup.
  • Edmonton Opera established.
• 1964 – Jasper Place, Alberta amalgamated with Edmonton.
• 1965
  • Citadel Theatre opened.
  • Edmonton aircraft bombing.
• 1966 – CN Tower was completed, the tallest building in Edmonton at the time, and city's first skyscraper.
• 1967 – Provincial Museum of Alberta opened.
• 1969 – Edmonton becomes the first Canadian city to join the North American Emergency Telephone 911 plan.
• 1970s – Major construction boom occurred.
• 1971
  • Grant MacEwan Community College established.
  • James MacDonald Bridge opened.
  • AGT Tower was completed and the tallest building in Edmonton at the time.
• 1972
  • Alberta Oilers founded.
  • Ukrainian Canadian Archives & Museum Of Alberta opened.
• 1974
  • Fort Edmonton Park established.
  • Northlands Coliseum opened.
• 1976
  • Heritage Days Festival begins at Mayfair Park.
  • Muttart Conservatory opened.
    

    Commonwealth Stadium
• 1978
  • 1978 Commonwealth Games.
  • Edmonton Light Rail Transit started.
  • Edmonton Sun founded.
  • Commonwealth Stadium opened.
  • Kinsmen Centre opened.
• 1979 – Edmonton Oilers join the National Hockey League.
• 1980s – Although the National Energy Program was later scrapped by the federal government, the collapse of world oil prices in 1986 and massive government cutbacks kept the city from making a full economic recovery until the late 1990s.[8]
• 1980
  • Edmonton Folk Music Festival launched.
  • The Great Divide waterfall flows from the High Level Bridge for the first time.
• 1981
  • Heritage Mall opened
  • West Edmonton Mall opened.
• 1982
  • Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival is held for the first time.
  • A large explosion at the CIL plant in Edmonton could be felt up to 30 kilometres (19 mi) away.[9]
• 1983
  • 1983 Summer Universiade.
  • Hotel Macdonald closes after falling into despair.
  • Manulife Place was completed and was the tallest building in Edmonton until it was surpassed in 2017 by the Stantec tower.
  • Edmonton Convention Centre opened.
  • Phase II of West Edmonton Mall opened.
    • Fantasyland opened
• 1984
  • Edmonton hosts its Grey Cup Game for the first time.
  • Edmonton Oilers win its first Stanley Cup
  • Edmonton Trappers win its first Pacific Coast League championship.
  • Edmonton Space Science Centre opened.
• 1985
  • Edmonton International Street Performer's Festival is held for the first time.
  • Phase III of West Edmonton Mall opened.
• 1986
  • Edmonton International Film Festival is held for the first time.
  • North Saskatchewan River rises to 11.5 metres, the worst flood since 1915.
  • Three people died and one was injured when the Mindbender roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall's Fantasyland derailed.
  • The Works Art & Design Festival launched.
    

    The path taken by the F4 Edmonton tornado in 1987. The F numbers are for the Fujita values, the O is for Imperial Oil Strathcona and Petro-Canada refineries, P is the Edmonton Power Clover power station and C is for the Celanese Canada chemical plant.
• 1987 – Edmonton tornado.
• 1991 – Hotel Macdonald reopened after significant restoration and a change in ownership.
• 1992 – The current Edmonton City Hall completed.
• 1994 - Edmonton Telephones ( Telus ), the city's publicly owned telephone company is privatized after 91 years of service.
• 1995
  • Edmonton Queen christened.
  • Fantasyland changed its name to "Galaxyland", after a lawsuit filed by the Walt Disney Company.
• 1996 – 1996 World Figure Skating Championships.
• 1997 – Winspear Centre opened.
• 1998 – Edmonton's hottest temperature is recorded at 38.3 °C (100.9 °F), on August 5.[10]
• 1999 - Phase IV of West Edmonton Mall opened.

21st century

• 2000 - Heritage Mall closed.
• 2001 – 2001 World Championships in Athletics.
• 2003 – 2003 Heritage Classic.
• 2004 – Large hailstorm causing widespread damage throughout the city most notably causing the evacuation of West Edmonton Mall.[9]
• 2005
  • Edmonton hosts its first Grand Prix
  • Edmonton celebrates 100 years of being the capital of Alberta.
• 2006 – 2006 Women's Rugby World Cup.
• 2007 – 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship.
  • Largest residential fire in Edmonton's history burns down a 149 unit condominium complex, which was under construction, along with 18 duplexes. Causing $20 million in damages.[11]
• 2008 – Edmonton region population surpasses one million becoming the most northern city in North America with a population over one million.
• 2009 – Edmonton submitted a bid for Expo 2017.
• 2010 – The Art Gallery of Alberta is reopened in its new building.
• 

  The Stantec Tower in September 2019
  2011
  • The Epcor Tower is completed, becoming Edmonton's tallest skyscraper.
  • The Edmonton Clinic opened.
  • The city's homicide rate swells; 47 murders by the year.[12][13]
• 2013 – The inaugural Tour of Alberta launches from Edmonton[14]
• 2014 – 53-year-old Phu Lam murdered his ex-wife and six relatives. In late December becoming The Worst mass murder in Edmonton's history.[15]
• 2016
  • Construction was completed on August 16, 2016 for the Royal Alberta Museum new location in Downtown Edmonton.[16]
  • Rogers Place arena in Downtown opened in September.[17]
  • The Northeast Anthony Henday Drive along with two new bridges over the river opened October 1, 2016. Its complete Anthony Henday Drive.[18] It will be the farthest north ring road in North America.
• 2017
  • 2017 Edmonton attack
• 2018
  • Completion of the Stantec Tower [19] becoming the tallest in building in Canada outside of Toronto. [19][20][21]
  • Construction on the JW Marriott Hotel completed, becoming the second tallest building in Edmonton.[22]
  • Opening of a new building for the Royal Alberta Museum to the public.[16]

See also

• History of Edmonton
• List of tallest buildings in Edmonton

References

1. MacGregor, James (1975). Edmonton: A History. Hurtig, 1975 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized 5 Jan 2007. p. 17. ISBN 0-88830-100-6.
2. Real Estate Marketing services. "Historical". Archived from the original on October 25, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
3. "Climate Data Almanac for January 19". Environment Canada. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2012.
4. Gilpin, John Frederick (1978). The City of Strathcona, 1891–1912. pp. 1 2. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
5. "City of Edmonton Population, Historical" (PDF). City of Edmonton. August 2008. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
6. Edmonton Airports. "Historical". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
7. Government of Canada. "Historical". Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
8. Edmonton Public Library. "Chapter 7. Riding the Roller Coaster, 1973–2004". Archived from the original on 2007-06-25. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
9. "Edmonton Disaster Timetable" (PDF). City of Edmonton. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
10. Martha, Walls (2007). Edmonton Book of Everything. Maclntyre Purcell Publishing Inc. pp. 62, 64. ISBN 978-0-9738063-4-2.
11. Mertz, Emily (20 July 2012). "Community marks five years since MacEwan fire". Global Edmonton. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
12. "The Edmonton Journal's coverage of local homicides in 2011". Edmonton Journal. Postmedia Network Inc. 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
13. "Edmonton homicide rate may swell police numbers". CBC News. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
14. "Rohan Dennis, 23, wins Tour of Alberta". CBC. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
15. Nine dead in Edmonton shooting, Irish Times, 2014.
16. "Milestones". Royal Alberta Museum. Government of Alberta. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
17. "Final Piece of Funding for Downtown Arena Approved". City of Edmonton. May 15, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
18. Kent, Fletcher (10 August 2016). "Edmonton drivers relieved as northeast Anthony Henday construction nears completion". Corus Entertainment Inc. Global News Edmonton. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
19. Kent, Gordon (September 15, 2015). "Stantec Tower in Edmonton set to be Canada's tallest outside Toronto". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
20. Tucker, Erika (September 19, 2015). "Canada's tallest building outside Toronto under construction in Edmonton". Global News. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
21. "62-storey tower to be built in downtown Edmonton". CBC News. August 26, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
22. Mah, Bill (January 14, 2016). "Edmonton Ice District hotel upgraded to JW Marriott" (Video/Text). Edmonton Journal. Post Media. Retrieved 26 March 2016.