History of Edmonton

The first inhabitants settled in the area that is now Edmonton, Alberta, Canada around 3,000 BC and perhaps as early as 10,000 BC, when an ice-free corridor opened up as the last ice age ended and timber, water, and wildlife became available in the region.

Edmonton, like many places in North America had been inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous groups. First permanent settlement by Europeans is known to have started around 1795, when Fort Edmonton was officially founded around present day Fort Saskatchewan.

In the early 19th century, the fort was moved to near the current (Alberta) legislature site. The fort served as headquarters for the Hudson's Bay Company's North American fur trade operations in the vast Saskatchewan District of Rupert's Land. The first settlement outside of the fort was in the 1870s, pioneer farmers living in rustic log cabins along the river - these farms formed the structure for the 1882 survey of the land into "River lots". "1885 Street" at Fort Edmonton Park represents the early hamlet of Edmonton. The Town of Edmonton was established in 1894. The town encompassed modern Boyle Street (the original downtown) and McCauley neighbourhoods.

The first outpost of The Hudson's Bay Company was named Edmonton House in honor of the Company's Deputy Governor Sir James Winter Lake's manor in a town in England of the same name.

In 1870, the Hudson's Bay Company had been granted a reserve on much of the present downtown, but by 1913, the peak of the World War I land price inflationary boom, it was all sold off. Edmonton got its first railway in 1903 when a branch-line from Calgary via southside Strathcona was built to cross the Low Level Bridge. Edmonton became a city in 1904 and shortly after, with a mere 5,000 people became Alberta's capital. With the new land west of Queens Avenue (modern 100 St) available to the city, the city grew tremendously, and Boyle Street was abandoned as the downtown for the new, current downtown. Many new communities like Glenora, Highlands, and Westmount were built in this time as the economy started to gain momentum. And during the early 1910s, Edmonton grew very rapidly, causing rising speculation in real estate prices. In 1912, Edmonton amalgamated with the city of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River; as a result, the city extended south of the river.

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Wikipedia