CORRECTION
The print edition of this story incorrectly calls Alanna Hnatiw the mayor of Morinville. She is the mayor of Sturgeon County. The Gazette apologizes for this error.
Sturgeon County has had a lot of names over the years.
It went by “Statute Labour District No. 45” in 1896, and “Ray No. 549” around 1919. It’s also been known as “Hazelwood,” “Sturgeon River,” and “Morinville.” It tried out “County of Sturgeon” in the 1960s but ditched that after just four years. That makes pinning down its birthday a bit tricky.
But the first time this region ever had the word “Sturgeon” in its name was on Jan. 1, 1918, when the province established the Municipal District of Sturgeon No. 548. The county has settled on that as its anniversary date, explained county communications co-ordinator Jackie Fowler.
“This year marks 100 years in Sturgeon County,” she said, and the county has a host of activities planned in celebration.
The Gazette is getting in on the act, too. Each month this year, the Gazette plans to dive into the history of Sturgeon County to see how this place took root.
The early years
In 1883, the Northwest Territorial Council passed the Municipal Ordinance, which allowed for the creation of local governance areas to maintain roads, control fires and animals, and perform other public works, reports the Provincial Archives of Alberta.The region we now call Sturgeon County is the child of two such areas, reports The Story of Rural Municipal Government in Alberta: Statute Labour Districts No. 45 and 230.
District No. 45 was established May 30, 1896, under Overseer Samuel Saucy, and covered Alcomdale, Calahoo, Lamoureux, Mearns, Morinville, Namao, Rivière Qui Barre, St. Albert, Villeneuve, and part of Legal.
District No. 230 came about on March 5, 1898. It included Amelia, Bon Accord, Coronado, Fedorah, Gibbons, and Waugh, and was led by F.H. Bibaud.
District No. 230 became the M.D. of Sturgeon No. 548 on Jan. 1, 1918, with G.A. Wilkinson as reeve. Councillors met in the home of secretary-treasurer Gabriel Morris, which once stood on a plot northwest of Hwy. 642 and 28 and south of Bon Accord. Councillors earned $2 a day.
Prior to the 1900s, local councils would collect $2.50 to $4 per quarter-section in taxes and allowed residents to pay up to half of that by doing road-work, Story reports. Council budgets were pretty paltry by today’s standards: District No. 45 had $135.75 in revenue and $151.30 in expenses in 1900, putting it $15.55 in debt.
Development came swiftly to the region with the arrival of rail and the telegraph. By 1909, Morinville alone had about 34 businesses, including three hotels, two banks, and a fashion salon, noted Donna Garrett, curator of the Musée Morinville Museum.
“There were more businesses back then than we have now in Morinville!” she said.
Visitors from the countryside would have travelled by horse and buggy (or by car on rare occasion) down the dirt version of Hwy. 642 past wooden boardwalks and, after 1918, the St. Jean Baptiste Church, Garrett said. To the east, coal miners would hang around Cardiff’s church and hotel, and perhaps join the local baseball team.
There were more names for Sturgeon to come. District No. 45 became the M.D. of Ray No. 549 in 1919, with Picardville, Vimy, Legal, and Busby splitting off to join Hazelwood No. 579, Story reports. Hazelwood rejoined Ray to become Morinville No. 91 in 1943.
Sturgeon No. 548 combined with the M.D. of Opal No. 578 to become Bon Accord No. 548 on Feb. 1, 1943, Municipal Affairs reports. That, in turn, became Sturgeon No. 548 on March 22. Presumably as an April Fool’s joke, the province changed the name again on April 1, 1945, to Sturgeon No. 90.
‘60s identity crisis
Sturgeon County’s parents finally got together on Jan. 1, 1955 when the province merged parts of Morinville No. 91, Sturgeon No. 90, and Lac Ste. Anne No. 93 to form the M.D. of Sturgeon River No. 90, Municipal Affairs reports.Seven years later, Sturgeon River No. 90 finally became a county – temporarily.
The province had something called the County Act on the books in the 1960s, explained former county commissioner Larry Kirkpatrick. Under it, communities could decide to become counties, which were the same as municipal districts except for the fact that the local school board was not independent – it was a council-appointed committee with at least three councillors on it.
Council under Reeve Stanley Walker decided to give county status a shot in the 1960s. On Jan. 1, 1961, the province officially changed Sturgeon River No. 90 into the County of Sturgeon No. 15, Story reports. They also built a new county office in Morinville, moving into it on May 18, 1962. (Said office is now the Morinville Clinic building.)
The County Act allowed residents to request a plebiscite after four years to see if they wanted to stick with the county system, Story reports. Sturgeon’s 17,647 residents held one in the spring of 1965 and voted no.
“They were the only ones in the history of the province that did that,” Kirkpatrick said.
On July 12, 1965, the County of Sturgeon No. 15 went back to being the Municipal District of Sturgeon No. 90, Municipal Affairs reports.
That name stuck until March 1997, when council under Reeve Frank Schoenberger asked the province to change the M.D.’s name to Sturgeon County.
There were several reasons for the change, Kirkpatrick said. First, the province had passed a new Municipal Government Act that allowed governments to call themselves counties while still having independent school boards. Sturgeon also wanted to better market itself, and few people knew what an “M.D.” was anymore – “Oh, you’re a doctor of fish?” was the common joke.
“The main reason was for Canada Post,” Kirkpatrick said.
Canada Post had brought in a new system that mapped rural addresses onto township and range roads, Kirkpatrick told the Gazette in 1997. The problem was that Canada Post’s rules said those identifiers had to be 18 letters or less and could not use abbreviations. Since “M.D. of Sturgeon County” broke both rules and “Sturgeon County” didn’t, the solution was obvious.
The province implemented the name change on April 23, 1997, Municipal Affairs reports.
Party time
Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said she didn’t expect any more name changes for Sturgeon in the future. They would, however, have to redraw its borders again should the current annexation by St. Albert get approved.“I think it’s important to celebrate our past,” Hnatiw said, noting that the land and peoples in Sturgeon have been around for a lot longer than 100 years.
County residents can start the party at the Sturgeon County Centre, Fowler said. There, you can grab a copy of a limited edition calendar from the centennial display and take part in the How Do You 100 Challenge.
Fowler said the postcards hanging from the display had different 100-centric challenges written on them, such as reading 100 books or performing 100 random acts of kindness. She encouraged residents to take a card, complete the challenge on it (or come up with one of their own), and return it to the county office for a chance to win prizes.
Hnatiw said she was excited to see what creative challenges people would come up with, and planned to do some herself.
“I’m going to sit down with my family this weekend and maybe we’ll take the opportunity to see what 100 shovels of snow looks like!” she joked.
The big bash will be this Sept. 8 at the Sturgeon County Bounty Culinary Cookout in Cardiff Park, Fowler said. Expect gourmet food made with fresh local ingredients, a mosaic mural by St. Albert’s Lewis Lavoie, hoop-dancer Dallas Arcand Sr., the Firefighters' Olympics, a time capsule, fireworks and more.
Watch sturgeoncounty.ca for more details on this year’s centennial.
