Irvine, Alberta
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Irvine is a
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
in
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 ...
, Canada within
Cypress County Cypress County is a municipal district in southeastern Alberta, Canada that surrounds the City of Medicine Hat and the Town of Redcliff. The municipality is part of Census Division 1, Alberta.http://www.albertafirst.com/profiles/statspack/2 ...
. It is located approximately east of
Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...
on Highway 1 and has an elevation of . The hamlet is located in
census division Census divisions, in Canada and the United States, are areas delineated for the purposes of statistical analysis and presentation; they have no government in and of themselves. The census divisions of Canada are second-level census geographic uni ...
No. 1 and in the federal riding of
Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...
.


History

The vast prairies were home to the
Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...
and other indigenous groups who traversed the area in and around the nearby Cypress Hills, following the routes of the
bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...
. By 1870, the bison were all but gone. The Palliser Expedition passed through the region in 1859.
Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...
settled in the hills during the mid-1860s, and the
Cypress Hills Massacre The Cypress Hills MassacreThe Cypress Hills Massacre
at . It later was renamed Irvine in honour of Colonel A. Irvine, a commissioner of the
North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...
who served with General F.D. Middleton during the
North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (), was an armed rebellion of Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising of Cree and Assiniboine mostly in the District of Saskatchewan, against the Government of Canada, Canadian government. Important events i ...
of 1885. In early May 1883, the push was on to complete 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 ...
line from just east of
Walsh Walsh may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walsh (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters Places Australia * Mount Walsh, Mount Walsh National Park Canada * Fort Walsh, one of the first Royal Canadian Mounted ...
to Medicine Hat. Crews of
gandy dancer Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States and Canada, more formally referred to as ''section hands'', who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. The British ...
s worked hard, building the rail line through 20 Mile Post, and reaching Medicine Hat on May 31. Trains brought Europeans with high hopes for their futures to the area. Today, lengthy freight trains roll through Irvine in the blink of an eye. Many German-Russian settlers homesteaded in the area and some of their descendants remain in and around Irvine to this day. The century-old St. George's Parish Cemetery bares evidence of this history. Prior to September 1, 1905, the community was within the jurisdiction of the
Assiniboia Assiniboia District refers to two historical districts of Canada's Northwest Territories. The name is taken from the Assiniboine First Nation. Historical usage ''For more information on the history of the provisional districts, see also Distric ...
District of the
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...
. It then became part of the Province 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 ...
. Irvine was once a thriving community, complete with an elected mayor and town council, several churches, businesses, etc. Several grain elevators once thrust their lofty towers to the sky. Blacksmith shops were kept busy making and repairing equipment for local ranchers and farmers. Agriculture is the mainstay of the district's economy. When Primere Getty (elected 1985) Changed the number of population required to be a town, Irvine was downgraded to a hamlet, the loss of autonomy, external centralized bylaws/enforcement and taxation discouraged businesses to relocate or to start up in Irvine. Over the decades, however, the demographic has aged and the town businesses closed their doors one by one, and the school was down graded (county decision after the school fire) from K-12 to a K-9 and the grain elevators demolished and rebuilt at the county seat the hamlet has Faltered. There is one surviving church, the old town office building on the main street occupied by a quaint restaurant, the historic Irvine bar, the complex (hockey and curling), Museum and several small businesses.


Geography

An unusual geological formation was discovered northeast of Irvine when
Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...
images showed what has become known as the Badlands Guardian, a shape in the land that looks like a
North American Indian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...
wearing a feathered warbonnet.


Demographics

Cypress County indicates that the population of the Hamlet of Irvine was 307 in the 2016 Census, a change of from its 2011 population of 291.


Arts and culture

During the September long weekend, Irvine is home to the 20 Mile Post Days. This annual event includes a pancake breakfast hosted by the
Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...
, a parade, craft show and bench show, a Cowboy Church and a rodeo. It is known as 20 Mile Post Days because it is approximately from Medicine Hat.


Attractions

Irvine is home to the Prairie Memories Museum, where visitors can wander through a "town square" setting to see an early 20th-century church, a one-room school house, a family home, old cabin and lumber store, as well as a small railway memorabilia collection. The museum building, housed in the former immigration hall, has a respectable historical collection.


Infrastructure

Amenities in Irvine include a library, school pre-k to grade 9, a church, small hotel / bar, a hockey arena and curling rinks.


Education

Irvine features a school (kindergarten through grade 9).


See also

*
List of communities in Alberta The province of Alberta, Canada, is divided into ten types of Local government in Canada, local governments – urban municipalities (including List of cities in Alberta, cities, List of towns in Alberta, towns, List of villages in Alberta, vil ...
*
List of former urban municipalities in Alberta The Province of Alberta currently has 253 urban municipalities including 19 cities, 105 towns, 78 villages and 51 summer villages. In addition, there are 106 communities that previously held some form of urban municipality status. These include 2 ...
*
List of hamlets in Alberta Hamlet (place), Hamlets in the Canadian province of Alberta are Unincorporated area, unincorporated communities administered by, and within the boundaries of, Specialized municipalities of Alberta, specialized municipalities or List of communit ...


References

{{Alberta, hamlets=yes Cypress County Hamlets in Alberta Former towns in Alberta Populated places disestablished in 1996