Edson and Area Visitor Guide

THE EARLY YEARS
Edson was born of the railway, during the height of
transcontinental rail construction heading toward BC.
The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) was ferrying
hundreds of railway workers west and, initially, it
looked as if Wolf Creek would be the established
divisional point. However, Wolf Creek fell victim to real
estate speculators and the GTP refused to pay the
overinflated prices. Instead, they moved the divisional
point eight miles west, to the home of modern day
Edson.
Edson received its first passenger train on August
10,1910 and in 1911, the people of Edson placed a
request to the Post Master General to have the post
office renamed from Heatherwood — a name it had
carried for about a year — to Edson, in honour of Edson
J. Chamberlain, the then general manager of the
Grand Trunk Pacific Rail.
On September 21, 1911, Edson was officially
incorporated as a town and by 1912, the population
had nearly tripled to a staggering 1,233 people and 32
local businesses.
In the spring of 1913, a fire claimed the wholesale
liquor store building and another fire consumed the
Old Edson Hall. It was a night of destruction that
demolished much of Edson’s ‘red light’ district. That fire
and a later riot would prompt the hiring of the Royal
North West Mounted Police to patrol the streets and
bring order back to the community.
With law and order in place, families came to settle
the area, encouraged that they would be safe and
protected from the lawlessness following the rail
construction.
By 1920, the town had power, water, sewer systems
and a telephone switch board. Soon, there was a
dentist, long distance service and improvements made
to the postal service, along with better roadways
in and out of Edson. These economic foundations
stayed strong throughout Edson’s history and were
augmented by an extended forestry industry, trap lines,
oil and gas development, coal developments to the
south, and dynamic small businesses
that continue to flourish in Edson.
For all its prosperity, however, Edson also became
a hotbed for unlawful activities that followed many
frontier towns.
4 www.gallowaystationmuseum.com