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 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, Colonel

James Macleod Lieutenant-Colonel James Farquharson Macleod (c. September 25, 1836 – September 5, 1894), born in Drynoch, Isle of Skye, Scotland, was a militia officer, lawyer, North-West Mounted Police officer, magistrate, judge, and politician in Alber ...

. 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 (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 The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins the Bow River to form the South Saskatchew ...

, 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 In Canada, a divisional point (or division point) is a local operational headquarters for a railway. Divisional points are significant in railway maintenance of way operations. Especially historically, they could be the location of facilities and in ...

for the Canadian Pacific Railway 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 started to inventory the downtown buildings, and in 1982 the downtown became Alberta's first "Provincial Historic Area". As well,

Heritage Canada The National Trust for Canada (french: La Fiducie nationale du Canada; formerly known as the Heritage Canada Foundation) is a national registered charity in Canada with the mandate to inspire and lead action to save historic places, and promot ...

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 The Municipal District of Willow Creek No. 26 is a municipal district (MD) in southern Alberta, Canada. Located in Census Division No. 3, its municipal office is located adjacent to Claresholm Industrial Airport, west of the Town of Claresho ...

, at the intersection of Highway 2 and

Highway 3 The following highways are numbered 3, H-3, PRI-3, AH3, E03 and R3. For roads numbered A3, see A3 roads. For roads numbered M3, see M3. For roads numbered N3, see N3. For roads numbered 3A, see 3A. International * Asian Highway 3 * Europea ...

, on the

. It lies west of the larger community of Lethbridge, near the reserves of the Peigan and Kainai

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

. It is also located close to the

Waterton Lakes National Park Waterton Lakes National Park is a national park located in the southwest corner of Alberta, Canada. It borders Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Waterton was the fourth Canadian national park, formed in 1895 and named after Waterto ...

. 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 turb ...

, 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 James ...

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 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''). The community enjoys frequent breaks from cold spells in winter when the

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 ...

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 ...

. 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 Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

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 , mottoeng = '' Let there be light'' , type = Public , established = , academic_affiliations = Universities Canada , endowment = $73 million (2019) , chancellor = Charles Wease ...

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 Henrietta Muir Edwards (18 December 184910 November 1931) was a Canadian women's rights activist and reformer. She was the eldest of " The Famous Five", along with Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby, who fought to hav ...

(1849–1931), women's rights activist *

Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey Brigadier Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey, VC, MC (1 September 1888 – 24 August 1980) was an Irish-born Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, Canadian soldier and rugby union player. During the First World War, while serving in the Canad ...

(1888–1980), Irish-Canadian soldier and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

athlete * Sir Frederick Haultain (1857–1942), former premier of the North-West Territories * Joni Mitchell (born 1943), musician * Ryland Moranz (born 1986), musician *

Constantine Scollen Father Con Scollen OMI. (4 April 1841 – 8 November 1902) was an Irish Catholic, Missionary priest who lived among and evangelized the Blackfoot, Cree and Métis peoples on the Canadian Prairies and in northern Montana in the United States. H ...

(1841–1902), missionary *

John Wort Hannam John Wort Hannam is a Canadian folk musician, from Fort Macleod, Alberta. He is known for his story telling through music. Themes which are central to his music include life in Western Canada, and the human experience as seen through the eyes of ...

(born 1968), musician

Film

The 2005 romantic

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 ''Brokeback Mountain'' is a 2005 American neo-Western romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by ...

'' 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 circa 1915. Scenes involving the dust storm and

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

'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&nb ...

'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'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, m ...

'' 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