Fort Macleod ( ) is a town in

southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

barracks (Fort Macleod, built 1874) it had grown around. The fort was named in honour of the then

Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police () is the professional head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The commissioner exercises control and management of the RCMP under the direction of the minister of public safety. The ...

, Colonel James Macleod. Founded as the Municipality of the Town of Macleod in 1892, the name was officially changed to the already commonly used Fort Macleod in 1952.

History

The fort was built as a square on October 18, 1874. The east side held the men's quarters and the west side held those of the Mounties. Buildings such as hospitals, stores and guardrooms were in the south end. Stables and the blacksmith's shop were in the north end. The town grew on the location of the Fort Macleod

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

(NWMP) Barracks, the second headquarters of the NWMP after Fort Livingstone was abandoned in 1876. Fort Macleod was originally established in 1874 on a peninsula along the Oldman River, then moved in 1884 to the present town location. The Museum of the North-West Mounted Police is located in Fort Macleod.Museum of the North-West Mounted Police
/ref> Once agricultural settlement and the railway came to the region, Macleod boomed. The town became a divisional point for the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

and frontier wood construction began to be replaced by brick and sandstone. In 1906 a fire devastated the downtown and destroyed most of the wooden buildings. From 1906 to 1912 Macleod had its greatest period of growth, as more new brick and stone building replaced the destroyed wooden ones. Then in 1912 the CPR moved the divisional point and 200 jobs to Lethbridge, devastating the local economy. Fort Macleod ceased to grow, and in 1924 was forced to declare bankruptcy. Until the 1970s, the town's economy stagnated and the buildings from the turn-of-the-century remained untouched. In 1978

Alberta Culture The Ministry of Culture of Alberta, commonly called Alberta Culture, is a ministry of the Executive Council of the Government of Alberta. It the legal continuation of a ministry that has had many names since its creation in 1992, most recently ...

started to inventory the downtown buildings, and in 1982 the downtown became Alberta's first "Provincial Historic Area". As well, Heritage Canada started a Main Street Restoration Project in 1982, aiming to preserve the sandstone and brick buildings, some dating back to 1878.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Fort Macleod had a population of 3,297 living in 1,342 of its 1,440 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 2,967. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Fort Macleod recorded a population of 2,967 living in 1,226 of its 1,426 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 3,117. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Geography

The town is located in the Municipal District of Willow Creek No. 26, at the intersection of

Highway 2 The following highways are numbered 2. For roads numbered A2, see list of A2 roads. For roads numbered B2, see list of B2 roads. For roads numbered M2, see list of M2 roads. For roads numbered N2, see list of N2 roads. International * AH2, As ...

and Highway 3, on the Oldman River. It lies west of the larger community of Lethbridge, near the reserves of the Peigan and Kainai First Nations. It is also located close to the Waterton Lakes National Park. The town is located north of the McBride Lake

Wind Farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundred wind tur ...

, one of the largest wind farms in Alberta. The wind farm has a capacity of 75

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...

s of electricity.

Climate

Fort Macleod experiences a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Dfb''). The community enjoys frequent breaks from cold spells in winter when the Chinook wind blows down-slope from the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. A Chinook on 27 February 1992 caused the temperature to rise to . Environment Canada�
Canadian Climate Data
accessed 2 August 2016 The highest temperature ever recorded at Fort Macleod was on 7 July 1896, 18 July 1910, and 17 July 1919. Environment Canada�
Canadian Climate Data
accessed 2 August 2016 Environment Canada�
Canadian Climate Data
accessed 2 August 2016 Environment Canada�
Canadian Climate Data
accessed 2 August 2016 The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 2 February 1905, 17 December 1924, and 28 January 1929.

Sports

The town is home to the ''Fort Macleod Mustangs'', Senior AA men's hockey team of the Ranchland Hockey League.

Media

Fort Macleod's local weekly newspaper is the ''Fort Macleod Gazette''. ;Historical newspapers * ''Macleod Advertiser'' — published May 25, 1909, through September 11, 1913 * ''Macleod Chronicle'' — in print approximately July 1908 through June 1909 * ''Macleod Gazette'' — early issues were entitled ''The Macleod Gazette and Alberta Stock Record'' * ''Macleod News'' — ran from November 2, 1916, through to June 1919 * ''Macleod Spectator'' — lasted from April 30, 1912, until October 26, 1916 File:Macleod Advertiser March 16 1911.jp
Macleod Advertiser – March 16, 1911
File:Macleod Chronicle April 23 1908.jp
Macleod Chronicle – April 23, 1908
File:Macleod Gazette May 28 1897.jp
Macleod Gazette – May 28, 1897
File:Macleod News June 6 1918.jp
Macleod News – June 6, 1918
File:Macleod Spectator Jan 14 1913.jp
Macleod Spectator – Jan 14, 1913
A selection of historical newspapers from Fort Macleod have been digitized from microfilm and are available in th
Southern Alberta Newspaper Collection
from the University of Lethbridge Library digitized collections. Included are: ''Macleod Advertiser'' (1908–1913), ''Macleod Chronicle'' (1908–1909), ''Macleod Gazette'' (1897–1907), ''Macleod News'' (1916–1919), & ''Macleod Spectator'' (1912–1916).

Notable people

* Henrietta Muir Edwards (1849–1931), women's rights activist * Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey (1888–1980), Irish-Canadian soldier and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

athlete *

Sir Frederick Haultain Sir Frederick William Alpin Gordon Haultain (November 25, 1857 – January 30, 1942) was a lawyer and a long-serving Canadian politician and judge. His career in provincial and territorial legislatures stretched into four decades. He served ...

(1857–1942), former

premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

of the North-West Territories * Joni Mitchell (born 1943), musician *

Ryland Moranz Ryland Moranz (born 1986) is a Canadian folk and country singer-songwriter based in Lethbridge, Alberta,Eric Volmers"Lethbridge roots musician Ryland Moranz's sophomore record mixes the personal, political and universal" ''Calgary Herald'', Februar ...

(born 1986), musician * Constantine Scollen (1841–1902), missionary * John Wort Hannam (born 1968), musician

Film

The 2005

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

'' Brokeback Mountain'' was filmed in part in Fort Macleod. The laundry apartment is located at 2422 Third Avenue, where a sign is posted marking the "passionate reunion" of Jack and Ennis. '' Passchendaele'' was also filmed in Fort Macleod's historic downtown, which acted as a stand-in for

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

circa 1915. Scenes involving the dust storm and Matthew McConaughey's character were also filmed in Fort Macleod in

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&n ...

's 2014 film '' Interstellar'', where the giant dust clouds were created on location using large fans to blow cellulose-based synthetic dust through the air.

Francesco Lucente Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), seve ...

's motion picture drama ''

Badland Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, ...

'' was filmed mostly in Fort Macleod. Francesco Lucente lived in Fort Macleod from 1974 to 1978. His father Salvatore Lucente owned the American and Queens Hotels during that time. The downtown historic buildings were also used in the 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

References

Famous Five Foundation biography of Henrietta Muir Edwards
*http://www.usask.ca/history/buffalo/About%20Buffalo.htm

External links

* {{Authority control 1892 establishments in the Northwest Territories Forts or trading posts on the National Historic Sites of Canada register Hudson's Bay Company forts Municipal District of Willow Creek No. 26 National Historic Sites in Alberta North-West Mounted Police forts Provincial Historic Areas of Alberta Towns in Alberta 1892 establishments in Alberta