Cranbrook ( ) is a city in southeast

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, located approximately 10 km southwest of the confluence of the

Kootenay River The Kootenay River or Kootenai River is a major river of the Northwest Plateau in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, ...

and the St. Mary's River. It is the largest urban centre in the region known as the East Kootenay. As of 2021, Cranbrook's population is 20,499 with a census agglomeration population of 27,040. It is the location of the headquarters of the Regional District of East Kootenay and also the location of the regional headquarters of various provincial ministries and agencies, notably the Rocky Mountain Forest District. Cranbrook is home to the Canadian Museum of Rail Travel which presents static exhibits of passenger rail cars built in the 1920s for the CPR and in the 1900s for the Spokane International Railway.

History

Originally inhabited by Ktunaxa peoples, the land that Cranbrook now occupies was bought by European settlers, notably Colonel James Baker who named his newly acquired land Cranbrook after his home in Cranbrook,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. In 1890, the Kootenay Indian Residential School, also called St. Eugene's, opened in Cranbrook, and operated until 1975. In 1898, Baker had successfully convinced

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

to establish their

Crowsnest Pass Crowsnest Pass (sometimes referred to as Crow's Nest Pass, ) is a low mountain pass across the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies on the Alberta–British Columbia border. Geography The pass is located in southeast British Columbia an ...

line through Cranbrook rather than nearby Gold Rush Boom Town Fort Steele. With that accomplishment Cranbrook became the major centre of the region, while Fort Steele declined; however, the latter is today a preserved heritage town. On November 1, 1905, Cranbrook was incorporated as a city. Some of the major industries include mining and forestry services, trades, and health care.

Geography

While much of the city is relatively flat, Cranbrook is surrounded by many rising hills where many residential homes are located. Cranbrook faces the

Purcell Mountains The Purcell Mountains are a mountain range in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. They are a subrange of the Columbia Mountains, which includes the Selkirk, Monashee, and Cariboo Mountains. They are located on the west side of the Rocky Mo ...

to the west and 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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

to the north and east. There are many lakes in close proximity to Cranbrook. Some of these lakes include Jim Smith Lake, Wasa Lake, Lazy Lake, Moyie Lake, Monroe Lake, Norbury Lake and Elizabeth Lake. Many of these lakes contain opportunities for boating, fishing and camping. There are public recreational beaches and provincial campgrounds.

Climate

Cranbrook features 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 cold ...

(''Dfb'') under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

with very warm, sunny summer days followed by cool nights, and moderately cold and snowy winters. Environment and Climate Change Canada reports Cranbrook as having the most sunshine hours of any BC city at approximately 2190.5 hours annually. It is a fairly dry city throughout the year, and when

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

does fall a good percentage of it will be in the form of

snow Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

. Environment and Climate Change Canada also states that the city experiences some of the lightest wind speeds year-round, has few foggy days, and has among the highest average

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as air pressure or barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1,013.2 ...

of any city in Canada.

Frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...

-free days average 127 days, typically occurring between May 18 to September 23.

Mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

daily temperatures range from to . However, temperatures can range from in the winter to in the summer months. Overall, its climate is extremely similar to that of Kelowna, in the nearby Okanagan Valley to the west - especially in regard to precipitation patterns and total monthly accumulation. However, Kelowna is significantly warmer throughout all seasons. The highest temperature ever recorded in Cranbrook was on August 10, 2018. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on January 19, 1958.

Demographics

In the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, 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%, whic ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Cranbrook had a population of 20,499 living in 8,780 of its 9,058 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 20,047. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Ethnicity

Religion

According to the 2021 census, religious groups in Cranbrook included: *

Irreligion Irreligion is the absence or rejection of religious beliefs or practices. It encompasses a wide range of viewpoints drawn from various philosophical and intellectual perspectives, including atheism, agnosticism, religious skepticism, ...

(11,190 persons or 56.4%) *

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

(8,060 persons or 40.6%) *

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

(155 persons or 0.8%) *

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

(120 persons or 0.6%) *

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

(85 persons or 0.4%) *

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

(45 persons or 0.2%) * Indigenous Spirituality (25 persons or 0.1%) *

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

(15 persons or 0.1%)

Education

Schools

Public schools are run by School District 5 Southeast Kootenay, consisting of seven elementary schools and two middle schools that feed into the city's only high school: Mount Baker Secondary School, home to approximately 1,000 students and 90 staff members. Mount Baker is the largest high school in school district five. Prior to 2004, the

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

s were referred to as junior high schools housing grades 8-10 rather than the current 7–9. However, due to declining enrollment, the school district adopted the new system. There is also a local home-school network. The following 13 schools are located in Cranbrook. * Aqamnik Elementary School (First Nations school located in St. Mary's Band) * Amy Woodland Elementary * Gordon Terrace Elementary * Highlands Elementary School * Kootenay Christian Academy * Kootenay Orchards Elementary School * Laurie Middle School * Mount Baker Secondary School * Parkland Middle School * Pinewood Elementary School * St. Mary's Catholic Independent School (private school) * Steeples Elementary School * T M Roberts Elementary School

Post-secondary education

Cranbrook is home to the main campus of the College of the Rockies, which has over 2,500 full and part-time students from over 21 countries.

Transportation

Cranbrook is at the junction of major highways BC 3 and 93/ 95, and due to its close proximity to the borders of

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

and the United States, it is an important transportation hub. Cranbrook has a major Canadian Pacific Railway yard, which serves as a key gateway for trains arriving from and departing to the United States. The McPhee Bridge also known as the St. Mary's Bridge rises high above the St. Mary River and is near the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport and the Shadow Mountain Golf Community. It supports the thousands of people who travel between

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

and Cranbrook on highway 95A. Approximately north is the Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport, which has recently completed its 12.5 million dollar expansion including the lengthening of its runway from feet in order to accommodate a limited number of international flights and an expansion to the Terminal for more passengers. The airport is served by Air Canada Jazz to Vancouver, and

WestJet Encore WestJet Encore is a Canadian regional airline headquartered in Calgary, Alberta that operates feeder flights for WestJet, owned by the same parent company WestJet Airlines, Ltd. WestJet Encore was formed in 2013 to allow the increased freque ...

to Vancouver and Calgary. On February 11, 1978,

Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314 On 11 February 1978, Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, crashed at Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport, near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, killing 43 of the 49 people on board. The scheduled flight fro ...

, a Boeing 737-200, nearly impacted a snowplow on the runway at the airport in Cranbrook, then lost control and crashed, killing 42 of the 49 people on board. Cranbrook has a

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

system operated by

BC Transit BC Transit is a provincial Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside Greater Vancouver. BC Transit is headquartered in Victoria, Bri ...

, which runs

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

on eight different lines.

Health care

Cranbrook has the largest hospital in the region, the East Kootenay Regional Hospital.

Sports and recreation

Western Financial Place (formerly called the RecPlex) is a pool and hockey arena in Cranbrook that opened in 2000, and was formerly the home to the Kootenay Ice until relocating to

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, in 2019. Following their departure, the recreational centre became home to the Cranbrook Bucks who play in the BCHL. A paved, two-lane trail exists between Cranbrook and Kimberley, BC. This trail constitutes a section of the Trans-Canada Trail and is known as the Rails to Trails. Canadian Pacific Railway donated the rail right-of-way and the teardown of the railway began by CP Rail in 2009. In addition to this trail, there are 2000 acres of wilderness to explore in the community forest.Cranbrook Community Forest Society
web

Media

;Newspapers * '' Cranbrook Daily Townsman'' - Daily paper ;Radio stations * 101.3 FM - CBRR-FM,

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

(repeats CBTK-FM,

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...

) * 102.9 FM - CHDR-FM, 102.9 REWIND RADIO * 104.7 FM - CHBZ-FM, Wild 104.7, Country * 107.5 FM - CFSM-FM, 107.5 2day FM, Adult Contemporary ;Television * Channel 5: (Air) Channel 4: (Cable) CFCN-TV-9, CTV (analogue repeater of CFCN-DT

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

) * Shaw TV (community cable channel)

Notable people

The following notable people come from or were born in Cranbrook: * Ray Allison, retired NHL player * Greg Andrusak, retired NHL player * Andrew Boden, writer * Bowen Byram,

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player * Brent Carver, actor * Glen Cochrane, retired NHL player * Tanya Fir, Member of the Alberta Leglislature, 2019- *

James Heilman James M. Heilman (born ) is a Canadian emergency physician, Wikipedian, and advocate for the improvement of Wikipedia's health-related content. He encourages other clinicians to contribute to the online encyclopedia. With the Wikipedia user ...

, doctor * Jim Hiller, NHL head coach, retired NHL player * Dryden Hunt,

player *

Juggernaut A juggernaut (), in current English usage, is a literal or metaphorical force regarded as merciless, destructive, and unstoppable. This English usage originates in the mid-nineteenth century. ''Juggernaut'' is the early rendering in English ...

, retired professional wrestler * Jon Klemm, retired NHL player * Lillix, former pop rock band * Bernie Lukowich, retired NHL player * Brad Lukowich, retired NHL player * Donald C. MacDonald, politician * Jason Marshall, retired NHL player * Bob McAneeley, former WHA player * Ted McAneeley, retired NHL and WHA player * Evah McKowan, novelist * Bob Murdoch and

Don Murdoch Donald Walter Murdoch (born October 25, 1956) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, and Detroit Red Wings between 1976 and 1982. He was featured in ...

, retired NHL players * Riley Nelson, retired ECHL player and captain for the Colorado Eagles * Rob Niedermayer, retired NHL player * Scott Niedermayer, retired NHL player * Kate Pullinger, author * Tom Renney, former NHL and Olympic ice hockey coach * Ben Rutledge, Olympic gold medal rower * Joel Savage, retired NHL player * Terry Segarty, businessman and BC Minister of Labour * Jonathan Shewchuk, computer science professor * Tom Shypitka, three-time provincial curling champion (1979, 1991, 2010) * Corey Spring, retired NHL player * Frank Spring, retired NHL player * Steve Yzerman, retired NHL player

Sister cities

Cranbrook is twinned with *

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene ( ; ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the most populous city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 54,628 at th ...

(United States)

References

External links

* * {{authority control Cities in British Columbia