The timeline of Edmonton history is a chronology of significant events in the history of Edmonton, Alberta.
Pre-European period Indigenous peoples roamed Alberta for thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years. The rim of the river valley and its ravines and hilltops in Edmonton are known to have been well-used as campgrounds and look-out points during this time. Rabbit Hill, today's Mary Lobay Park, Mount Pleasant Cemetery and Huntington Heights (near Whitemud Drive west of Calgary Trail) are known to be sites of human activity for millennia. As well, the "Old North Trail" of the Blackfoot goes through present-day Edmonton, as it goes from Mexico to the Barren Lands up north. (Part of it survives is preserved as the Great Western Trail through the U.S.) At about Edmonton the Trail branched, with one branch going through present-day site of Ft. Assiniboine and toward western Arctic lands; the other branch going NE then breaking north to descend the Athabasca River. Some conjecture that the Trail's crossing of the North Saskatchewan River at the site is the reason for the siting of fur-trade posts in Rossdale.Cushman, The Great North Trail, p. 11, endpaper mapCoutu, From Castles to Forts (2004), p. 71
18th century 1754 – Anthony Henday, an explorer working for the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area. 1795 – As part of the westward extension of the Saskatchewan River fur trade, the North West Company established a trading post near today's Fort Saskatchewan, on the north bank of the river. That same year, the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Edmonton nearby.
19th century 1802 – Fort Edmonton (Hudson's Bay Company) moves to Rossdale. 1810 – Fort Edmonton (Hudson's Bay Company) moves to a location near Smoky Lake. 1812 – Fort Edmonton (Hudson's Bay Company) moves to Rossdale, never again to move out of today's Edmonton. This is start of Edmonton's recorded permanent occupancy.Edmonton House Journal 1806-1821, Nov. 6, 1812 1821 the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company merge, and fur-trade activities at Edmonton are concentrated in Fort Edmonton. 1824 – Horse packtrail established to connect Fort Edmonton to HBC's Fort Assiniboine, which serves as trans-shipment point on the Athabasca River, part of the Mackenzie River watershed flowing to the Arctic.McCarty, Richard Frances (1976). Fort Assiniboine, Alberta, 1823-1914 : fur trade post to settled district. Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta. p. 13 1825 - The name "Horse Hill" first appears in the Edmonton House Journal on December 28, 1825. (Horse Hill and Horsehills Creek are place names in present-day Edmonton.)HBC Edmonton House Journal Reports from the Saskatchewan District, including the Bow River Expedition. 1821-1826 (2016), p. 220 1830 – Fort Edmonton moves up the hill, to near today's legislative building. From 1830 to 1860, the fur trade in western Canada uses Edmonton as a prominent transshipment point connecting the prairies with New Caledonia (interior BC) and with the fur trading posts up north. By 1860s ships are sailing from the Atlantic Ocean "around the Horn" to the west coast, and that more and more causes a decline in the importance of Edmonton as a transportation link.Frank Oliver, Founding of Edmonton (1921), p. 4 http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/2879/7.html?qid=peelbib%7Cindian%7C%28peelnum%3A002879%29%7Cscore. accessed April 13, 2025 1859-1860 – Gold rush in the Cariboo region of BC leads to gold-panners coming to Edmonton. Among them Thomas Clover, who founds settlement at Clover Bar. (Later dredges are used to mine gold from river bed.) 1870 – Fort Edmonton and the rest of the North-West Territories becomes part of Canada when the Dominion of Canada expands to take in the Hudson's Bay Company's Rupert's Land. 1871 – The first prominent buildings outside the walls of Fort Edmonton, a Methodist church mission building and manse, built by George McDougall and his family, formerly of Victoria Settlement. They add mix to the existing campsites and log cabins of gold prospectors, frontier farmers and hunters, Indigenous, European and Métis, who live in the bush where City of Edmonton sits today. 1874 – North-West Mounted Police makes Great March to western prairies. Second Patrol, a spin-off of the main March West, arrives in Edmonton in exhausted dribs and drabs Oct. 29-Nov. 2 1874 - William Bird operates gristmill at Mill Creek. 1875 – Arrival of Edmonton's first sternwheeler/steamboat Northcote. 1876 Donald Ross opens Edmonton's first hotel Treaty 6 is signed by representatives of the Queen and local Native leaders. Title to the Edmonton region is ceded to the Crown, excepting promised Indian reserves of Enoch and Papaschase, in return for treaty obligations on the part of the Crown (and the Canadian government). (The Papaschase reserve, on the site of Mill Woods and Southgate mall, was never established.) Athabasca Landing Trail opened up, replacing the road to Fort Assiniboine as the main route to the north country. 1878 – first post office opens 1879 Edmonton's first local exhibition, Agricultural Show and Fair. Telegraph line is built to Edmonton. 1880 – Edmonton Bulletin begins publication. Frank Oliver, publisher 1881 First school built in Edmonton at a site near the current McKay Avenue School at 10425 – 99 Avenue. 1882 As new arrivals try to take up residence in Edmonton area where people are already living, a violent struggle arises between "old timers" and the new "squatters". Matthew McCauley is named to head a settlers rights protective association (in local parlance "a vigilance committee"). He and others throw a squatter's shack over the edge of the river valley."Local" Edmonton Bulletin, Feb. 18, 1882, May 13, 1882 Dominion Land Survey is conducted in Edmonton area. Fixes in place a mixture of riverlots along river and square sections elsewhere. It helps firm up local land ownership. 1883 – Edmonton, at the time an unincorporated hamlet, elects Frank Oliver as its first representative to the NWT Territorial Council. 1885 – Telephone service begins with just two telephones 1885 – North-West Rebellion and the simultaneous First Nations uprising, both centred in Saskatchewan, strikes fear in many in Edmonton. Alberta Field Force, led by Thomas Bland Strange, comes from Calgary, ensures local security (Edmonton Natives do not engage in open rebellion at this time). The AFF descends the North Saskatchewan to battle at Frenchmen's Butte and Loon Lake. (St. Albert is given its own seat in the NWT Territorial Council a few months later.)Mardon and Mardon, Alberta Election Results, 1882-1992, p. 197 1886 – Edmonton's coldest temperature is recorded, as January 19. 1891 Calgary and Edmonton Railway is completed from Calgary to the south bank of North Saskatchewan River, across from the Edmonton settlement. Community of South Edmonton (Strathcona) is established south of the river at the end of steel of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway. (Became a town in 1899.) 1892 Edmonton incorporated as a town with a population of 700. Covered what is now downtown, north of the river."Telegraphic", Edmonton Bulletin, Jan 2, 1892 Edmonton's first town election. Matt McCauley elected mayor. City-wide district used; all city councillors elected in one contest. Rat Creek Rebellion – Mayor McCauley and an armed mob prevent transfer of Dominion land office to "South Edmonton" (Strathcona). The mob stands off a NWMP force that arrives to establish law and order. When tempers cool, a separate land office is established in South Edmonton. Edmonton hires its first constable."Robbers Attempt to steal the Land Office...", Edmonton Bulletin, June 20, 1892 Second McDougall Church is built at site of first church. (Now at Fort Edmonton Park) 1894 – Edmonton Police force founded. 1895 – Herbert Charles Wilson becomes Mayor of Edmonton (until 1896) 1896 Edmonton pioneer, newspaperman and NWT Council member Frank Oliver is elected as MP for Alberta.Mardon and Mardon, Alberta Election Results Edmonton Golf Club established (first golf club in Edmonton) Cornelius Gallagher Mayor of Edmonton October–December, 1896 John Alexander McDougall Mayor of Edmonton December 1896–December 1897 1897 – Edmonton is a starting point for people making the trek overland to the Klondike Gold Rush. Nearby South Edmonton (Strathcona) was the northernmost railway point on the western Prairies. (But Edmonton was still about 3000 kilometres from the goldfields.) William S. Edmiston Mayor of Edmonton December 1897–December 1899 1899 Royal Alexandra Hospital established South Edmonton, south of the river, becomes Town of Strathcona.
Early 20th century
1900 Low Level Bridge is completed. At first carries road traffic and foot traffic only. Train line put in in 1902; streetcar line put in in 1908. 1901 William Short Mayor of Edmonton January 1902–December 1904 1903 Edmonton Journal founded. Methodist Church Board founds Alberta College Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railway is built on the Low Level Bridge to connect Rossdale Station in Edmonton on the north side of the river by rail to Strathcona and thence to the outside world. In 1906 railway line is extended from Rossdale west to 124 Street and up out of the river valley, then back east along 104 Avenue to downtown Edmonton. First car in Edmonton is unloaded off the train that brought it. Owner, Joe Morris. 1904 Incorporated as a city with a population of 8,350. First mayor, Kenneth MacKenzie. Elected Liberal MP Frank Oliver in federal election. (Strathcona on the southside elected Liberal MP Peter Talbot.) 1905 Edmonton became the capital of Alberta, as Alberta became a province in Confederation. Alberta's first provincial election saw Edmonton elect Liberal Charles W. Cross as its MLA. Strathcona elected Liberal Alexander Cameron Rutherford, who served as Alberta's first premier. Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) arrived in Edmonton, accelerating growth. The first railway line in Edmonton to directly connect to Winnipeg, it is completed as a transcontinental line in 1915. Rossdale Brewery (Edmonton Brewery and Malting Company) built by W.H. Shepard 1907-13 – Real estate and construction boom. With amalgamation of the cities of Strathcona and Edmonton, the population of Edmonton grew to 72,500. 1907 Six miners die in a fire at the Strathcona Coal Company, near south end of today's High Level Bridge, the deadliest industrial accident Edmonton has suffered First paving blocks laid on McDougall Avenue, now 101 Street. 1908 Edmonton Hockey Club makes the city's first appearance at the Stanley Cup finals. Edmonton Street Railway (streetcars) begins operations, crosses Low Level Bridge. Strathcona Canadian Pacific Railway Station completed, along the Calgary & Edmonton Railway line. University of Alberta established in Strathcona and began instruction. First convocation Edmonton Pressed Brick opens a plant on the slope of the river valley in east Cloverdale in 1908. Plant made as many as 30,000 bricks daily, upwards of 5 million bricks in a year, for next six years. Its excavations formed the "Camel Humps". 1909 Grand Trunk Pacific Railway enters Edmonton.Morrow 2010, pp. 107–108 Built its roundhouse and railyard northwest of Edmonton. Village of West Edmonton established in 1910. Later took the name Calder. Arlington Apartments completed. (destroyed by fire in 2005)"Crews tear down historic Arlington Apartments".Edmonton Journal. Canwest Global. November 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-05. 1910 Edmonton Kennel Club formed Third McDougall Church, the brick one standing today, completed, dedicated in honour of George McDougall. 1911 Great Western Garment Co. (maker of denim products) founded in Edmonton, by Charles A. Graham and Alexander Cameron Rutherford Connaught Armoury built in Strathcona. 1912