St. Albert | |||
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City | |||
City of St. Albert | |||
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Location of St. Albert near Edmonton | |||
Coordinates: 53°37′49″N 113°37′33″W / 53.63028°N 113.62583°WCoordinates: 53°37′49″N 113°37′33″W / 53.63028°N 113.62583°W | |||
Country | Canada | ||
Province | Alberta | ||
Region | Edmonton Capital Region | ||
Census division | 11 | ||
Founded | 1861 | ||
Incorporated | |||
• Village | December 7, 1899 | ||
• Town | September 1, 1904 | ||
• New town | January 1, 1957 | ||
• Town | July 3, 1962 | ||
• City | January 1, 1977 | ||
Government | |||
• Mayor | Nolan Crouse | ||
• Governing body | St. Albert City Council | ||
• CAO | Kevin Scoble | ||
• MP | Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton-CON) | ||
• MLA |
Marie Renaud (St. Albert-NDP) Trevor Horne (Spruce Grove-St. Albert-NDP) |
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Area (2016) | |||
• Land | 48.45 km2 (18.71 sq mi) | ||
Elevation | 689 m (2,260 ft) | ||
Population (2016) | |||
• Total | 65,589 | ||
• Density | 1,353.9/km2 (3,507/sq mi) | ||
• Municipal census (2016) | 64,645 | ||
Time zone | MST (UTC−7) | ||
• Summer (DST) | MDT (UTC−6) | ||
Postal code span | T8N | ||
Area code(s) | +1-780, +1-587 | ||
Website | Official website |
St. Albert is a city in Alberta, Canada, on the Sturgeon River northwest of the City of Edmonton. It was originally settled as a Métis community, and is now the second-largest city in the Edmonton Capital Region. St. Albert first received its town status in 1904 and was reached by the Canadian Northern Railway in 1906.
Originally separated from Edmonton by several miles of farmland, the 1980s expansion of Edmonton's city limits placed St. Albert immediately adjacent to the larger city on St. Albert's south and east sides.
St. Albert was founded in 1861 as a Métis settlement by Father Albert Lacombe, OMI, who built a small chapel: the Father Lacombe Chapel in the Sturgeon River valley. This chapel still stands to this day on Mission Hill in St. Albert. The original settlement was named Saint Albert by Bishop Alexandre-Antonin Taché, OMI after Lacombe's name saint; Saint Albert of Louvain. Although Lacombe had originally intended to found the mission at Lac Ste. Anne, the soil proved infertile and he moved the settlement to what would become St. Albert. The location offered several advantages, notably its easy access to supplies of wood and water, its excellent soil, it being a regular stopping point for First Nations peoples on their travels, and its proximity to Fort Edmonton, where the priests could purchase necessary supplies and minister to Catholic workers. A few years later, a group of Grey Nuns would follow Lacombe from Lac Ste. Anne. More Métis from Lac Ste. Anne arrived in 1863 and by December 1864, the population was roughly 300. By 1870, St. Albert had approximately 1000 residents, the vast majority of whom were Métis.
During the late 20th and early 21st century it was mistakenly assumed that the community had been named after St. Albert the Great. This was due to incorrect information in the 1985 history of St. Albert; , published by the amateur historians of the St. Albert Historical Society. This led to the City of St. Albert erroneously promoting St. Albert the Great as the community's patron saint and even erecting a statue of the wrong saint in the downtown area. This misconception was not corrected until 2008. The original chapel has since become an historic site staffed with historical interpreters and is open to the public in the summer season.