Onoway is a town in
central Alberta
Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy.
Geography
Central Alberta is bordere ...
, Canada. It is approximately northwest of
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
at the junction of
Highway 37 and
Highway 43.
History
Two theories are behind the naming of the community. "Onoway" in
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...
translates to "fair field" while the variant "onaway" is used in ''
The Song of Hiawatha
''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...
'', a poem by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
.
Onoway's post office was established in 1904. Onoway incorporated as a village on June 25, 1923.
[ It incorporated as a town on September 1, 2005.][
]
Geography
The Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
tracks run through the town, which is situated east of Lac Ste. Anne and south of the Sturgeon River.
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 Onoway had a population of 966 living in 360 of its 388 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,029. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Attractions
Onoway hosts a weekend fair every June called "Heritage Days".
Education
Onoway's elementary school was recently replaced. The previous elementary school has been repurposed as a public library and museum. A new junior/senior high school opened in late 2016. The previous school was demolished and redeveloped as an outdoor running track.
See also
*List of communities in Alberta
The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of local governments – urban municipalities (including cities, towns, villages and summer villages), specialized municipalities, rural municipalities (including municipal district ...
*List of towns in Alberta
A town is an urban municipality status type used in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta towns are created when communities with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their buildings are on parcels of land smaller than ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1923 establishments in Alberta
Lac Ste. Anne County
Towns in Alberta