Settlements

The following settlements/communities in Alberta are generally considered to have been Mormon settlements. Some were founded at the direction of church authorities (ie. Stirling, Magrath, Cardston) while others were founded by Mormons and established in the pattern typical of Mormon settlement (ie. Raymond, Barnwell, Orton, etc.).

I have tried to identify founding dates, but defining when a settlement was founded can be surprisingly difficult in some cases. Many start as a family or two in an area with no plans for a town or village being created. Sometimes a post office or ward are created giving a rough beginning date. If they become a village, there is a clear incorporation date attached to that. If they remain a hamlet, then there is no such date. Frankly, founding and incorporation aren’t shouldn’t be considered the same thing either, for example Raymond is founded in 1901 as a hamlet and becomes a village in 1902, but 1901 is generally accepted as the founding date.

In time we’ll add brief histories of each community to this site until then we have linked many to off-site histories.