Amber Valley, Alberta
| Amber Valley | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated | |
 Amber Valley
|
|
| Coordinates: 54°43′58″N 112°55′46″W / 54.73278°N 112.92944°WCoordinates: 54°43′58″N 112°55′46″W / 54.73278°N 112.92944°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Province |
 Alberta
|
| Region | Northern Alberta |
| Census division | 13 |
| Municipal district | Athabasca County |
| Government | |
| • Reeve | Doris Splane |
| • Governing body |
Athabasca County Council
|
| Time zone | MST (UTC-7) |
| • Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC-6) |
| Website | www |
Amber Valley is an unincorporated community in Alberta, Canada, about 160 kilometres (99 mi) north of the capital Edmonton. Its elevation is 608 m (1,995 ft). Originally named Pine Creek, Amber Valley was among several Alberta communities settled by early black immigrants to the province. It is the location of the Obadiah Place heritage site.
In 1909, a group of 160 Black Canadian homesteaders established the community as a block settlement. The homesteaders, from Oklahoma and Texas, arrived within four years of Alberta becoming a province in 1905.
The settlers were led by Parson H. Sneed, a clergyman and mason, to an area by the Athabasca River. For the first few years it was difficult for them, with the climate harsher than what they were used to back in Oklahoma. They had to develop areas for planting crops and building houses from the ground up. In the end, the settlers were as resilient as their surroundings were tough, and three quarters of them stayed. They built a school house in 1913 and a nondenominational church in 1914. They also had a baseball team that was widely known in the north. Amber Valley became the largest community of black people in Alberta until the 1930s.
Beginning in the 1950s, many descendants of the original settlers began moving to near cities such as Edmonton to escape the rigors of rural life. In Edmonton, many Amber Valley descendants founded the Shiloh Baptist Church, one of the few black churches in Western Canada.
Willis Reese Bowen organized the original group of five families who moved from Oklahoma to Vancouver and then on to Amber Valley.
Similar 1908 to 1910 Alberta homesteader settlements of Black Canadians:
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Wikipedia