New Sarepta | |
---|---|
Hamlet | |
Motto: The Cartoon Capital of Canada | |
Location of New Sarepta in Alberta | |
Coordinates: 53°16′20″N 113°08′50″W / 53.27222°N 113.14722°WCoordinates: 53°16′20″N 113°08′50″W / 53.27222°N 113.14722°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Alberta |
Region | Central Alberta |
Census Division | No. 11 |
Municipal district | Leduc County |
Founded | 1904 |
Incorporated (Village) |
January 1, 1960 |
Dissolved | September 1, 2010 |
Government | |
• Mayor | John Whaley |
• Governing body |
Leduc County Council
|
Area (2011) | |
• Total | 2.28 km2 (0.88 sq mi) |
Elevation | 770 m (2,530 ft) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 491 |
• Density | 215.4/km2 (558/sq mi) |
Time zone | MST (UTC−7) |
• Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC−6) |
Highways | 21 |
Waterways | Joseph Lake |
New Sarepta is a hamlet in central Alberta, Canada, within Leduc County. It is located approximately 23 km (14 mi) east of the City of Leduc along Highway 21.
New Sarepta dissolved from village status to become a hamlet on September 1, 2010. It originally incorporated as a village on January 1, 1960.
The ancient Phoenician city of Sarepta was located on the Mediterranean coast of today's Lebanon, approximately at the site of the modern village of Sarafand, between Sidon and Tyre.
Sarepta was also mentioned, as Zarephath, in the Old Testament (I Kings 17:9), as the home of Elijah during a drought and famine.
In the 18th century (1765-1773), Moravian Brethren from Germany established the village of Sarepta, Volgograd, Russia. About a century after its founding, the larger German Lutheran Church in Russia began efforts to take Sarepta under its wing. Many of the Moravian Brethren objected, moving elsewhere in Russia, then choosing to emigrate to the Western Hemisphere, including Canada.
Some of these settlers, part of the Germans from Russia diaspora, established a new village in Canada's North-West Territories. From various suggestions, approximately 60 people in the new community signed a document favouring the name Sarepta, honouring their previous village. The government of the North-West Territories designated the name Sarepta to this settlement on October 2, 1904. When the new province of Alberta was split from the North-West Territories in 1905, the government added "New" to distinguish it from the existing place name in Ontario. The Moravian Brethren also felt that it honored and distinguished their newer community from the earlier biblical and Russian villages.