History
In 1875, under the command of Inspector W.D. Jarvis, the North-West Mounted Police established Fort Saskatchewan as a fort on the North Saskatchewan River. The fort was later incorporated as a village in 1899, a town in 1904, and a city in 1985.
The Canadian Northern Railway reached Fort Saskatchewan in 1905, placing the town on a transcontinental rail line. The first bridge across the river was also built at this time, with the rail company paying for it in exchange for free land for its station in Fort Saskatchewan. Prior to the bridge, the only method to cross the river at Fort Saskatchewan was via ferry. In the decade after the railway arrived, the town's population nearly doubled to 993.
A new $200,000 provincial jail opened in 1915 at the end of what is now 100th Avenue to replace the 34-cell guard house that had been in used to hold prisoners since the NWMP fort was constructed in 1875. The jail would see various additions throughout the next 70 years, including the construction of more cell blocks and a stand-alone power plant. By 1973, the jail employed 220 residents and housed both male and female offenders. The jail was replaced in 1988 when a new provincial correctional centre was built south of Highway 15 on 101st Street. The original jail cell blocks was subsequently demolished in 1994. Only one building from the complex as well as the Warden's House still stand today.
In 1952, Sherritt Gordon Mines started construction on a $25-million nickel refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, which started production in 1954. Following Sherritt Gordon's locating in Fort Saskatchewan, more industries constructed plants in the town. Between 1951 and 1956, the town's population doubled from 1,076 to 2,582.
Dow Chemical acquired 700 acres in Fort Saskatchewan in 1959, opening its plant in 1961 and further expanding it in 1967. After Dow started operations, the population again saw a significant increase to 4,152 in 1966, up from 2,972 five years earlier.
Since Fort Saskatchewan was incorporated as a town in 1904, it has had 29 residents serve as its mayor.
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