Didsbury 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 bordered ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at the

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geography, geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an highland, upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low terrain, relief hill ...

of 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 ...

. It is located next to Alberta Highway 2A, near the Queen Elizabeth II Highway. Didsbury is within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. Didsbury is approximately the half-way point between the cities of

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 ...

and

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

. Didsbury is surrounded by

Mountain View County Mountain View County is a municipal district in Division No. 6 in central Alberta, Canada. Located between the cities of Calgary and Red Deer within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, its municipal office is located north of the Town of Didsbury. ...

, which has its municipal office located to the north of the town. The nearest neighbouring communities are the towns of Olds to the north and

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

to the south.

History

The town is named after the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Didsbury Didsbury is a suburb of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of ...

, which is now a suburban area of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. The first settlers were German

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

who left their homes in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

following the American Revolution and emigrated to Waterloo County in Ontario. They were granted the area around Didsbury in 1894 by the government of Sir John A. Macdonald. Original settlement in the area was sparse, and this in part explains the initial slow development of the town-site as a service centre. The first concern of the Mennonite settlers was to build a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

; and the primary task of the settlers was to create farmsteads. Settlement prior to the post-1900 land rush was limited to the small group who came west in 1894. 1891 saw the arrival of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway (C&ER), which pushed forward the town's development. The

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 ...

, which had absorbed the C&ER, constructed a station in the town in 1904. Didsbury was incorporated as a village in 1905 and as a town on September 6, 1906. Fires in 1914 and 1924 destroyed the early "

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although t ...

" commercial streetscape and led to the passing by Town Council of a bylaw which required masonry construction for all new downtown commercial buildings. Many of these brick buildings stand as of 2005. On July 1, 2023, a large EF4 tornado caused severe damage just south of the town.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, the Town of Didsbury had a population of 5,070 living in 2,047 of its 2,157 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 5,268. 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 Didsbury recorded a population of 5,268 living in 2,031 of its 2,119 total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of 4,957. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Infrastructure

The town's recreational facilities include six parks, a golf course, aquatic centre, and a hockey rink. There is also a hospital and a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

detachment serving the town and the surrounding area. Didsbury has three schools that are under the jurisdiction of the Chinook's Edge School Division. The Olds-Didsbury Airport, which is used primarily for small aircraft and

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

, is located north of Didsbury along Highway 2A.

Media

The town is served by the '' Didsbury Review'', which is part of the Great West Newspapers chain.Didsbury Review Newspaper site
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Sport and recreation

Didsbury is home to the Mountainview Colts of the Heritage Junior B Hockey League.

Organizations

Organizations present in Didsbury include the

Royal Canadian Army Cadets The Royal Canadian Army Cadets (RCAC; ) is a national Canadian youth program sponsored by the Canadian Armed Forces and the civilian Army Cadet League of Canada. Under the authority of the National Defence Act, the program is administered by th ...

and the 1st Didsbury

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

, Didsbury Jazzercise, as well as the

Elks The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset (ELKS), formerly known as Linux-8086, is a Linux-like operating system kernel. It is a subset of the Linux kernel, intended for 16-bit computers with limited processor and memory resources such as machines pow ...

and Lions clubs.

References

External links

* {{Subdivisions of Alberta, towns=yes 1901 establishments in the Northwest Territories Mountain View County Towns in Alberta German-Canadian culture Pennsylvania Dutch culture Mennonitism in Alberta