Atmore, Alberta

Last updated

Atmore
Hamlet
Atmore 10.jpg
Highway 55 through the community
Alberta County Point Locator.svg
Red pog.svg
Atmore
Location of Atmore in Alberta
Coordinates: 54°49′9″N112°33′1″W / 54.81917°N 112.55028°W / 54.81917; -112.55028
CountryCanada
Province Alberta
Region Northern Alberta
Census division 13
Municipal district Athabasca County
Government
[1]
 • ReeveDoris Splane
 • Governing body
  • Larry Armfelt
  • Christine Bilsky
  • Warren Griffin
  • Kevin Haines
  • Travais Johnson
  • Dwayne Rawson
  • Doris Splane
  • Penny Stewart
  • Denis Willcott
Area
 (2021) [2]
 • Land0.54 km2 (0.21 sq mi)
Population
 (2021) [2]
 • Total
10
 • Density18.5/km2 (48/sq mi)
Time zone UTC-7 (MST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-6 (MDT)
Website www.athabascacounty.com

Atmore is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Athabasca County. [3]

Contents

Toponymy

Atmore is named after Atmore, Alabama. [4] [5] The Alabaman location derived its name from Charles Pawson Atmore, an employee of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad at the time of that city's 1897 christening. [6]

Geography

Atmore is located 1 km (0.62 mi) east of the junction of Highway 55 and Highway 63, 43 km (27 mi) west of Lac La Biche, 54 km (34 mi) east of Athabasca and 250 km (160 mi) south of Fort McMurray. The hamlet lies on the southwestern shore of Charron Lake and has an elevation of 585 m (1,919 ft).

Amenities

Atmore contains an active community centre as of 2026, operated by the Atmore Community League. [7] After Atmore Community Hall was beset with flooding during the summer of 2024, Athabasca County provided funds to reinforce the building. [8]

Since 1986, Atmore Community Hall has organized the Atmore Hoof-a-Thon, an annual trail ride, dinner and dance that fundraises for the Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton. [9] [10] As of 2024, the Atmore Hoof-a-Thon has raised over $800,000 for cardiac health since its inception. [9]

History

Dakin and Atmore: 1914-1948

Settlement in the area later known as Atmore began around 1914, primarily by French-Canadian farmers hoping to defy conscription during the First World War. [11] [12] The first school in the area, Quebec School, was built in 1923. [11]

The area began to be known as Dakin at some point after 1918, when Henry H. Dakin and his family moved there. [11] Henry Dakin established a post office bearing his family name in 1925, and the school was renamed Dakin School in 1938. [11] [13] [14]

A competing community named Atmore developed close to the Dakin settlement in the 1930s. An Atmore Community Club convened in 1938 for the purposes of building a community centre. [11] In April 1939, a post office by the name Atmore was founded by postmaster Edmond Vogstad, operating out of his general store. [11] [15] Construction began on a hotel named the Atmore Hotel in 1947. [11] After the Dakin post office closed in May 1948, the area became known as Atmore permanently. [11] [13] [15]

Atmore's development: 1949-1979

A bus service connecting Atmore to Fort McMurray operated briefly between 1949 and 1953. [11] A Roman Catholic church, St. Philip's (also recorded as St. Philippe), was built in Atmore in 1952; [16] Dakin School relocated to the nearby hamlet of Grassland the next year. [11] After Atmore Cemetery was founded by the Catholic congregation in 1956, Henry Dakin was the first to be interred there. [11]

The Atmore Hotel burned down in 1961. [11] The next year, another fire destroyed Atmore's post office and general store. Although these locations were quickly rebuilt, the replacements burned down as well in 1968. They were not rebuilt again, and postal services operated out of the homes and businesses of local postmasters. [11] [15]

In 1963, a small United Church chapel in Lac La Biche fell into disuse. Atmore congregants of the Untied Church purchased the building and transported it to their locality. The church remained in use until it burned down in February 1973. For several years after this fire, St. Philip's Church offered use of their place of worship to United Church practitioners. [11]

Recent development: 1980-present

Bishop Paul Terrio announced the closure of St. Philip Church in 2013. [16] It ceased operations in July, and the land and building were sold by the Diocese of Saint Paul, Alberta. [16] The St. Isidore Parish in nearby Plamondon assumed responsibility for maintaining the St. Philip Cemetery, which the Diocese of Saint Paul continued to own. [16]

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, residents of the communities of Atmore and Grassland organized a fundraiser to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine and to help resettle Ukrainian refugees in Alberta. [17] Over $40,000 was raised and donated to the Ed Stelmach Community Foundation. [18] Stelmach himself was in attendance. [17] [18]

In March 2025, the Government of Alberta announced funding to fully twin Highway 63 from Fort McMurray to Edmonton, thus improving direct connections from Edmonton from Atmore. [19] Two months later, Atmore was the site of two EF1 tornadoes. [20] [21] [22] Some buildings were damaged, but no injuries were reported. [20] [21]

Demographics

Population history
of Atmore
YearPop.±%
195142—    
195651+21.4%
196156+9.8%
196638−32.1%
197127−28.9%
197637+37.0%
198138+2.7%
198637−2.6%
199130−18.9%
1996 35+16.7%
2001 37+5.7%
2006 20−45.9%
2011 20+0.0%
2016 35+75.0%
2021 10−71.4%
Source: Statistics Canada
[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [2]

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Atmore had a population of 10 living in 8 of its 12 total private dwellings, a change of

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Atmore had a population of 35 living in 14 of its 16 total private dwellings, a change of

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Municipal Officials Search". Alberta Municipal Affairs. May 9, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Population and dwelling counts: Canada and designated places". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Specialized and Rural Municipalities and Their Communities" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. June 3, 2024. Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  4. ↑ Mardon, Ernest (November 17, 1972). Community Names of Alberta. Lethbridge: University of Lethbridge. p. 26. Copyright No. 237,550.
  5. ↑ Aubrey, Merrily K., ed. (2006). Concise place names of Alberta. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. p. 15. ISBN   978-1-55238-210-3.
  6. ↑ "Atmore | Alabama, Escambia County, & Map | Britannica". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on December 12, 2025. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Community Grants". Athabasca County. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  8. ↑ Brennan, Cole (September 14, 2024). "Athabasca County putting up funds to stop flooding at Atmore Hall". Town and Country Today.
  9. 1 2 Freehill, Lexi (May 14, 2024). "Three generations celebrate 37 years of Atmore Hoof-a-Thon". Town and Country Today.
  10. ↑ Stocking, Heather (May 3, 2022). "Atmore Hoof-A-Thon saddles up for long-awaited return". Lakeland Today.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 McNamara, Mary, ed. (1986). Dreams and Determination: A History of Grassland and Districts. Grassland and Districts History Book Society. pp. 120–135 – via University of Calgary.
  12. ↑ "Recruitment and Conscription - Conscription, 1917". Canada and the First World War. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  13. 1 2 Canada, Library and Archives (November 25, 2016). "Dakin Archives / Post Offices and Postmasters". recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Good Homesteads Still Available". Edmonton Journal. June 23, 1925. p. 9.
  15. 1 2 3 Canada, Library and Archives (November 25, 2016). "Atmore Archives / Post Offices and Postmasters". recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  16. 1 2 3 4 St. Isidore Parish (December 1, 2022). History of St. Philip Parish in Atmore, Alberta (PDF). stisidoreparish.ca.
  17. 1 2 Stocking, Heather (May 31, 2022). "To Ukraine, with love from Alberta". Town and Country Today.
  18. 1 2 Zwick, Chris (June 23, 2022). "Gallery: Ukrainian fundraiser brings in $40K". Town and Country Today.
  19. ↑ McDermott, Vincent (March 4, 2025). "Alberta announces $311M for highways connecting Fort McMurray, northern communities". fortmcmurraytoday. Archived from the original on April 8, 2025. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  20. 1 2 Freehill, Lexi (June 10, 2025). "Two tornadoes hit Atmore in late May, confirmed". Town and Country Today.
  21. 1 2 Classen, Josh (May 31, 2025). "Record heat across Alberta Thursday, 2 tornadoes confirmed from Monday's storms". CTVNews. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  22. ↑ Perry, Brennen (June 1, 2025). "Two EF1 Tornadoes Confirmed Northeast of Edmonton From Monday, May 26th, 2025". Instant Weather. Retrieved January 24, 2026.
  23. ↑ Census of Canada, 1956 (PDF). Vol. Population of unincorporated villages and settlements. Dominion Bureau of Statistics. October 25, 1957. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  24. ↑ 1961 Census of Canada: Population (PDF). Series SP: Unincorporated Villages. Vol. Bulletin SP—4. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. April 18, 1963. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  25. ↑ Census of Canada 1966: Population (PDF). Special Bulletin: Unincorporated Places. Vol. Bulletin S–3. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1968. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  26. ↑ 1971 Census of Canada: Population (PDF). Special Bulletin: Unincorporated Settlements. Vol. Bulletin SP—1. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1973. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  27. ↑ "Geographical Identification and Population for Unincorporated Places of 25 persons and over, 1971 and 1976". 1976 Census of Canada (PDF). Supplementary Bulletins: Geographic and Demographic (Population of Unincorporated Places—Canada). Vol. Bulletin 8SG.1. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1978. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  28. ↑ 1981 Census of Canada (PDF). Place name reference list. Vol. Western provinces and the Territories. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1983. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  29. ↑ 1986 Census of Canada (PDF). Population. Vol. Unincorporated Places. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1988. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  30. ↑ 91 Census (PDF). Population and Dwelling Counts. Vol. Unincorporated Places. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1993. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  31. ↑ 96 Census (PDF). A National Overivew: Population and Dwelling Counts. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1997. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  32. ↑ "Population and Dwelling Counts, for Canada, Provinces and Territories, and Census Divisions, 2001 and 1996 Censuses - 100% Data (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. August 15, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  33. ↑ "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and designated places, 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. July 20, 2021. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  34. ↑ "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and designated places, 2011 and 2006 censuses (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  35. 1 2 "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and designated places, 2016 and 2011 censuses – 100% data (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
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