Strathcona, Alberta

Strathcona was a city in Alberta, Canada on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River across from the City of Edmonton. Strathcona's recorded history began in the 1870s. Its first residents were an offshoot of the hangers-on and self-employed contractors who resided near the old Fort Edmonton on the north side of the river. This mixed community of British (especially Orkney), Québécois, Cree and Metis fur trade employees, pioneer farmers, hunters, and their families, was mostly replaced by eastern Canadian pioneer farmers (and land speculators) in the 1880s. The Calgary and Edmonton Railway arrived in 1891, establishing an urban hamlet centred on what is now Whyte Avenue. The townsite "Plan I" was registered September 25, 1891. Businesses, at first in quickly-built primitive shacks, some made of logs, provided goods and services to a flood of immigrants from eastern Canada, Britain and continental Europe, U. S. and other parts of the world that came by train to the area. It was thought that "South Edmonton" would overwhelm "Old Edmonton" on the north side but Strathcona's geographic difficulties prevented this. However, Strathcona was in good enough position for businesses near the railway station to prosper. Over the following 20 years the centre's primitive buildings were replaced by more substantial two-storey wood or even brick buildings, many of which exist to this day.

Strathcona was a city in Alberta, Canada on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River across from the City of Edmonton. Strathcona's recorded history began in the 1870s. Its first residents were an offshoot of the hangers-on and self-employed contractors who resided near the old Fort Edmonton on the north side of the river. This mixed community of British (especially Orkney), Québécois, Cree and Metis fur trade employees, pioneer farmers, hunters, and their families, was mostly replaced by eastern Canadian pioneer farmers (and land speculators) in the 1880s. The Calgary and Edmonton Railway arrived in 1891, establishing an urban hamlet centred on what is now Whyte Avenue. The townsite "Plan I" was registered September 25, 1891. Businesses, at first in quickly-built primitive shacks, some made of logs, provided goods and services to a flood of immigrants from eastern Canada, Britain and continental Europe, U. S. and other parts of the world that came by train to the area. It was thought that "South Edmonton" would overwhelm "Old Edmonton" on the north side but Strathcona's geographic difficulties prevented this. However, Strathcona was in good enough position for businesses near the railway station to prosper. Over the following 20 years the centre's primitive buildings were replaced by more substantial two-storey wood or even brick buildings, many of which exist to this day.