Community Description

Whitecourt is an oil, forestry and agricultural town in Alberta, Canada. It is located 175 kilometres (109 mi) north west of Edmonton at the junction of Highway 43 and Highway 32. The town is placed at the confluence of the Athabasca and McLeod Rivers, in Woodlands County. It branded itself as the snowmobile capital of Alberta.

The community was formed in the place known by the Cree as Sagitawah (the place where the rivers meet). While the first Hudson’s Bay Company trading post was established in 1897, the first permanent resident on the present day town site was John Goodwin, who settled here in 1905.

In 1910, with the expansion of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, immigrants were encouraged by Premier Arthur Lewis Sifton to settle in the vast scarcely inhabited area between Edmonton and the Peace River Country. The name ‘Whitecourt’ was chosen in 1910 by the postmaster of the newly established community.

Community Links

Alberta Tourism
Alberta Forest Products Association
Town of Whitecourt
Whitecourt Chamber of Commerce

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