Edmonton

Edmonton, the provincial capital of Alberta, is one of Canada's fastest-growing cities. Unlike many other North American cities, however, it has successfully struck a balance between urban amenities and the preservation of its natural surroundings. Considered a gateway to the northern reaches of Canada, Edmonton hosts diverse business interests and attracts sports and nature enthusiasts.

Landscape

Edmonton is located at the center of Alberta, on the North Saskatchewan River, which traverses the city from the southwest to the northeast. The wooded river valley provides Edmonton with a beautiful setting and many recreational opportunities in both summer and winter. More broadly, the city is situated at the edge of the prairie region, allowing for good mixed-farming conditions.

Based on area, the city of Edmonton is larger than Chicago or Detroit, measuring 684 square kilometers (265 square miles), with a metropolitan area of 9,427 square kilometers (3,640 square miles).

In 1912, Edmonton combined with the town across the river, Strathcona, which remains a well-preserved historic area. Other surrounding residential and industrial districts include St. Albert, Saskatchewan, and Leduc.

Perhaps the most unique feature of the city's landscape is the urban parkland comprising more than seventeen thousand acres for biking, walking, and running as well as golfing; it is also used for winter sports. This parkland holds the record for the longest expanse of its kind in North America (it is much larger than Central Park in New York City).

Edmonton lies at an elevation of 645 meters (2,116 feet). Its northern continental climate makes for long, cold winters, with an average temperature of –6 degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit). The short summer months, which are mild, moist, and sunny, reach an average temperature of 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit) and create favorable agricultural conditions. On clear nights the northern lights, or aurora borealis, are sometimes visible; this is a luminous meteoric phenomenon that occurs when charged particles from solar rays interact with the planet's magnetic poles.

Two important routes go through Edmonton: the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway and a railway that gives access to other major cities across the country. The largest city on these routes, Edmonton serves as a gateway to nearby national parks and their sporting attractions.

People

The largest percentage of the Edmonton population has its roots in Europe (predominantly England, France, Germany, and Ukraine). The city is also host to a significant Asian population, due to Canada's traditionally liberal immigration policies. The total population of Edmonton was estimated at 1,491,000 in 2021.

Europeans have played the dominant role in Edmonton since its founding as an important center of the fur trade. Nearly two-thirds of the city's population (about 63 percent in 2016) is White.

Ukrainians are one group of immigrants who have maintained a strong identity. Many Ukrainians immigrated to Alberta in droves beginning in the late nineteenth century and through the first decades of the twentieth century, and in 2016 people of Ukrainian ethnic origin made up about 10.6 percent of Edmonton's population.

As well as influencing the city's culinary traditions, people of Ukrainian descent have preserved several folk traditions from their homeland, including dances, choral singing, and a new year's celebration called Malanka. This holiday is celebrated on January 13, according to the Julian calendar, and involves troupes of carolers.

The Asian population brings its unique traditions to the city as well, including the annual Lunar New Year Festival. The predominant groups include Chinese (7.2 percent) and Filipino (6.1 percent). There is a Chinatown in Edmonton, and the gate leading into it symbolizes the amicable link between Edmonton and Harbin, China, its sister city.

Economy

Long past are the days in which Edmonton's economy was based around the pelt industry and passage to the Klondike gold fields, both of which provided the initial impetus for the city's development.

Today, Edmonton depends on a diversity of businesses for its economic stability. Oil has remained the most important product ever since its discovery after World War II, when Edmonton became the center for the Canadian oil industry. The city still provides markets throughout North American with oil and natural gas and also serves as western Canada's primary center for petroleum refinement.

Although Edmonton's economy declined signficantly during the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020, largely due to decreased demand for oil and gas, the city began to rebound in 2021. Though much of the labor force works in the oil industry, the city also sustains itself through tourism, hosting athletic events, and numerous restaurants. Moreover, as the seat of provincial government, Edmonton attracts the investments of any capital city.

The main tourist draws are the world-class Royal Alberta Museum, the West Edmonton Mall, the North Saskatchewan River urban parkland, and two national parks (Elk Island and Jasper) just outside of the city. Like its top-of-the-line athletic facilities, these parks attract sports enthusiasts from around the world.

Edmonton is served by an underground railway system, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) system, opened in 1978. An indoor pedestrian system makes the downtown area accessible in every season and connects to the LRT.

Landmarks

Sir Winston Churchill Square, a central park area in the arts district, attracts much of the vibrant life that characterizes Edmonton, including the many art festivals and concerts hosted by the city. The Stanley A. Milner Public Library, the Art Gallery of Alberta, and the Citadel Theatre are all located within close proximity to the square.

The Old Strathcona district was declared a heritage area in 1976. Since then, a lot of effort has been invested in conserving and restoring its turn-of-the-century buildings. Locally owned restaurants and specialty shops help promote the unique character of this district.

Strathcona is also the site of the University of Alberta, now one of Canada's largest universities, with nearly forty thousand students. As Edmonton has grown in importance, so too has its university, considered to occupy a position at the forefront of the medical research field. Edmonton is also home to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Grant MacEwan University.

Perhaps the city's most famous landmark is the West Edmonton Mall, the largest indoor complex for shopping and entertainment in the world. With its many shops and restaurants, the so-called "eighth wonder of the world" caters to every taste and enjoys the reputation of a tourist destination. Highlights include bungee jumping, submarine rides, ice skating, a casino, and the Sea Life Caverns, where visitors can see dolphins and other sea animals. The indoor complex is as large as forty-eight city blocks.

Edmonton boasts several important museums. The Royal Alberta Museum, which contains the Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Art, showcases Alberta's natural history and eleven thousand years of aboriginal artifacts and art. It was opened in 1967 as the Provincial Museum of Alberta to celebrate Canada's centennial and was renamed following a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. In the Muttart Conservatory, located in the river valley, visitors walk through three climatic conditions (tropical, temperate, and arid) to view the plants indicative of each zone. The carefully regulated biomes allow for the exhibition of plant life from around the world.

The world-class athletic facilities located in Edmonton reflect the city's enthusiasm for sports. Among the most important facilities are the Commonwealth Stadium, home to the Edmonton Eskimos football team, and Rexall Place, home of the Edmonton Oilers hockey team and reputed to be the best ice surface in the National Hockey League (NHL).

History

The North Saskatchewan River Valley was used by the Indigenous hunting population for several thousand years before European settlers began building a permanent settlement there in the late eighteenth century. The fur trade flourished as settlers established connections with the Cree and Blackfoot. The original fort also became a stopover for those traveling to Canada's northern reaches and the Pacific coast.

When the Hudson's Bay Company came to control the trade in 1821, Fort Edmonton became the company's main trading post for the western portion of the territories. The fort was named for Edmonton, England. A replica of the fort can be visited today.

Edmonton began developing in the 1870s as people settled outside of the fort, encouraged by the low cost of land, and officially became a town in 1892. Five years later, the Klondike Gold Rush turned enormous profits for Edmonton as prospectors passed along the so-called "All-Canadian Route" and purchased supplies. As a result, the population doubled in two years and the town became known as an economic center.

After the turn of the century, Edmonton enjoyed the fruits of two fortuitous events that contributed to its rapid growth: the opening of the transcontinental Canadian Northern Railway in 1905 and the awarding of the provincial seat of government. Edmonton became a thriving city, but the uncertainty of global wheat markets slowed development following this first boom. Nonetheless, it had laid the groundwork for modernity as theaters, public transport, a business district, and a university were all established.

Strathcona and Edmonton merged in 1912, boosting the population once again. The High Level Rail Bridge, a major engineering feat for its day, connected the two cities over the North Saskatchewan River a year later. Originally, trains and streetcars passed on the upper trestle while pedestrians and vehicles had access to the level below.

Between the two world wars, Edmonton broadened its position as a gateway to the north. The city was quick to develop an aviation program. Canada's first municipal airport opened there in 1927, and the city became home to some of the famous bush pilots, who flew mail and supplies to outlying settlements. With the construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 and the development of northern oil fields, Edmonton played a strategic role as a major supply center.

The importance of aviation cannot be underestimated in Edmonton's history. During World War II, the Royal Canadian Air Force trained more than three thousand navigators for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and US fighter planes frequently broke their missions at the Edmonton airport on their way to Russia. The Cold War brought a new purpose for the airport, which served as a base for monitoring early warning radar systems established in the Arctic in the event of a Soviet attack.

It was not until the discovery of oil in 1947 that Edmonton hit its most sustained period of economic success. After intensive attempts to drill for oil in the region and a series of expensive failures, oil was struck near Leduc. The Canadian oil industry quickly became centered in Edmonton and achieved even greater importance after the OPEC oil embargo of 1973.

Edmonton continued its growth pattern throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, adding an international airport in the 1960s and the Northlands Coliseum (now known as Rexall Place) during the next decade. Though the city does continue to expand through new developments, much of its growth has derived instead from incorporating preexisting municipalities.

Given the world's need for oil and the various threats to Middle Eastern production, Edmonton has remained an important center for the oil industry. Its economic successes in turn help foster its prestigious medical research. Most significantly, perhaps, Edmonton demonstrates how development can proceed beneficially with respect to its natural environment.

Trivia

• The Enbridge Pipeline, built in 1959, is the longest crude oil pipeline in the world. It spans a distance of 1,775 miles, connecting Edmonton and Buffalo, New York.
• Edmonton enjoys up to seventeen hours of daylight during the longest days of summer.
• Edmonton's official city symbol is the marigold flower, which represents Alberta's sunny weather and the historical role that Edmonton played in the Klondike Gold Rush.
• The world's largest indoor triple-loop roller coaster is found in Edmonton.

Bibliography

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Francis, R. D., and Chris Kitzan. The Prairie West as Promised Land. Calgary: U of Calgary P, 2007. Print.

Hesketh, Bob, and Frances Swyripa. Edmonton: The Life of a City. Edmonton: NeWest, 1995. Print.

Janigan, Mary. Let the Eastern Bastards Freeze in the Dark: The West versus the Rest since Confederation. Toronto: Knopf, 2012. Print.

Smith, P. J. "Edmonton." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 6 Mar. 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/edmonton/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.

Stamp, Robert M., and Diane Warnell. "Alberta." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 18 June 2020, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/alberta/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2021.