Claresholm is a town located within

southern Alberta Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.Highway 2, approximately northwest of the City of

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

and south of the City of

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, makin ...

. One of the Famous Five involved in the Persons Case,

Louise McKinney Louise McKinney (; 22 September 186810 July 1931) was a Canadian politician, temperance advocate, and women's rights activist. She was the first woman elected into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the first woman to serve in a legislatur ...

, lived in Claresholm and was elected as the Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

for the area in the 1917 provincial election.

History

The location was originally a watering stop for steam engines on 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 Canadi ...

line along the

Macleod Trail Macleod Trail is a major road in Calgary, Alberta. It is a six- to eight-lane principal arterial road extending from downtown Calgary to the south of the city, where it merges into Highway 2. South of Anderson Road, Macleod Trail is an express ...

when the trains first arrived in the area in 1891. The first settlers arrived in 1902, and the village was established in 1903. Claresholm was incorporated as a town in 1905, the year Alberta became a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

. The community was named after Clare Niblock, a pioneer citizen. In 1913, Alberta established a demonstration farm and School of Agriculture at Claresholm. The first hospital in Claresholm opened in 1921 and was replaced by the current hospital in 1939.

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

Station Claresholm was established near the town in 1941 to train pilots for service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It first opened June 9, 1941 as a

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), or Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS) often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zea ...

base. No. 15 Service Flying Training School operated at the base from its opening until March 1945. In 1951, the base was used to train pilots for the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and operated as No. 3 Flying Training School. It also trained

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

pilots. The base closed in 1958 and the hangars were converted to industrial use. A portion of the former base operates as

Claresholm Industrial Airport Claresholm Industrial Airport (formerly known as RCAF Station Claresholm) is located south southwest of Claresholm, Alberta, Canada. The airport opened in 1941 as RCAF Station Claresholm as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan a ...

. Among the artifacts in the Claresholm Museum from the air base is a

Link Trainer The term Link Trainer, also known as the "Blue box" and "Pilot Trainer" is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Link Aviation Devices, founded and headed by Ed Link Edwin ...

. The

Claresholm highway massacre The Claresholm highway shooting was a murder–suicide that occurred on December 15, 2011, on Alberta Highway 2, just north of Claresholm, Alberta, Canada. The suspect, 21-year-old Derek Jensen, killed three people with a Heckler & Koch 9mm han ...

took place just north of Claresholm on

Alberta Highway 2 Alberta Provincial Highway No. 2, commonly referred to as Highway 2 or the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, is a major highway in Alberta that stretches from the Canada–United States border through Calgary and Edmonton to Grande P ...

on December 15, 2011. The suspect killed three people then turned the gun on himself in a

murder–suicide A murder-suicide is an act in which an individual murder, kills one or more persons either before or while suicide, killing themselves. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms: * Murder linked with suicide of a person with a ...

Geography

Climate

Claresholm 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 freezing ...

(

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, notabl ...

''Dfb''). During winter,

Chinook wind Chinook winds, or simply Chinooks, are two types of prevailing warm, generally westerly winds in western North America: Coastal Chinooks and interior Chinooks. The coastal Chinooks are persistent seasonal, wet, southwesterly winds blowing in from ...

s have been known to move temperatures from well below freezing to well above in a matter of hours.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, the Town of Claresholm had a population of 3,804 living in 1,709 of its 1,826 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 3,790. 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 Claresholm recorded a population of 3,780 living in 1,644 of its 1,742 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 3,758. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

References

External links