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Fort Edmonton Park
Edmonton Park is a living
history park in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and named after the first
enduring European outpost in the region of modern day Edmonton, and
is the biggest living history museum in the country. It has original
and rebuilt historical structures that represent the history of the
city, that includes the post-horse aboriginals and has costumed
historical interpreters in the summer months. The idea behind the
park started way back in 1915, when the remains of the old fort were
demolished, although there were many town's people that opposed it
wanting to cherish old buildings for their heritage value. After
WWII, renewed interest again arose, and it wasn't until 1969, that
the park started construction under the Fort Edmonton Foundation.
Their master plans of 1968, believed that a park with a good
cross-section of the area's history, back to its distant geological
past, to those present attributes and even a prophesy area about the
city's future. The first plan thought that the process would be done
in ten phases, but by 1987, they realized that it's development was
quite different from the 1968 plans. They decided to focus on the
four area already done and amended the plans to reflect those
changes. The fort opened first, in 1974, and accessed by road going
directly into it. Next was the 1885 Street that opened in the late
1970s, then the 1905 Street in the early 1980s and finally the 1920
Street in the start of the 1990s. They have a working steam engine
train that brings visitors from the park's entrance and has done so
since the opening in 1977. Every street is a work in progress, with
the plans calling for more additions, mostly to the 1920 Street. By
2008, the park still had four areas, spread across 158 acres, with
the fort, the 1885 Street, the 1905 Street and the 1920 Street, with
the steam engine train taking them from the entrance to the fort
that is located at the other end, and then walking back through the
various sections. Besides the train, there are vintage autos, horse
buggies and streetcars to help you get around or just to ride and
enjoy. The train is free, as is the streetcar, but the horse drawn
buggies charge a fee; with the autos rate up to the discretion of
the driver. Some of the more prominent venues featured inside
the fort include a replicated York boat, a boat fashioned after a
canoe, but able to carry much more weight and better stability in
rough waters; the Rowand House, which was one of the biggest houses
in the region of western Canada with four levels; the Mens' Quarters
that was set up to house the laborers that worked for the Hudson Bay
Company; the clerks' quarters that housed the educated clerks; the
Indian House/Trade Store, where all the trading was done; and the
aboriginal camp that lay outside the post. In the 1885 Street,
which is the settlement era from 1871 to 1891, contains many
noteworthy items of its own that include the covered wagon, the
Jasper House Hotel, McDougall Methodist Church, Northwest Mounted
Police Outpost and the Ottewell Homestead. The 1905 Street brings us
to the era of Edmonton as a young city and some of the wonderful
items located here include the tent city, Rutherford House and
streetcar. The 1920 Street is the metropolitan period from 1914 to
1929, and contains the Blatchford Field Air Hangar, Hotel Selkirk,
Mellon Farm, Al-Rashid Mosque and the 1920 midway and exhibition
area.
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