In the course of our daily reporting, we often uncover unusual projects, places, or connections that don't make the final cut. Instead of keeping it to ourselves, we're pleased to share our Architrivia.

With Edmonton's rapid vertical growth heralding a new era of progress, it can be easy to lose touch with the past. The strategic dismantling of the city's built history, a trend that all major North American cities were guilty of, has resulted in a strenuous relationship between the drive to move forward and the preservation of heritage assets. That dichotomy is perhaps no better encapsulated than in the establishment of Fort Edmonton Park, which in the midst of intense urban development, represented a certain sentimentality that is still relevant today.

The Alberta Legislature and the remnants of Fort Edmonton in 1914, image via Wikimedia Commons

Fort Edmonton, a Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post, evolved in its scope and location from 1795 to 1915. Its fifth and final location was settled upon the lands now occupied by the Alberta Legislature Building. The arrival of Edmonton's heightened civic position as the provincial capital, and the palatial structure that inevitably came with that responsibility, brought about a dismantling of the Fort. When the Legislature was completed, the remaining structures of the Fort were widely seen as a blight on the landscape, and despite some calls for preservation, all signs of the once-bustling trading post were removed.

The rebuilt residence of John Rowand, fur trader, image by Flickr user IQRemix via Creative Commons

It wasn't until after the start of the Second World War that a campaign — which eventually led to the creation of Fort Edmonton Park — signalled renewed interest in Edmonton's rich history. The idea of reconstructing the old Fort Edmonton was floated as a Centennial project in 1967. But that concept quickly grew into something more: a full-scale replica of Edmonton's early evolution. Efforts to establish this memorial to the city's origins eventually birthed a more formal group, the Fort Edmonton Foundation, whose Master Plan of 1968 set out the vision for a park that would embody local history, from its geological beginnings to present day. The original plan called for ten separate phases, but only four were actually built.

A functional steam train moves visitors through the park, image by Flickr user Mack Male via Creative Commons

Opened in 1974 along the south bank of the North Saskatchewan River, the 158-acre park captures the look and feel of four different eras: 1846 Fort — Fur Trade Era; 1885 Street — The Settlement Era; 1905 Street — The Municipal Era; and 1920 Street — The Metropolitan Era. A steam train, horse-drawn carriages, streetcars, and automobiles evoke their respective eras as visitors transcend time by moving through each distinctly curated area. 

Hotel Selkirk at Fort Edmonton Park, image by Flickr user Mack Male via Creative Commons

As the largest living history museum in Canada by area, Fort Edmonton Park is among the city's most popular tourist attractions. With both original and rebuilt historical structures and artifacts depicting life during simpler times, Fort Edmonton Park provides an educational look at a history too often forgotten and infrequently celebrated.