Devon is a town in the province of Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, situated 26 kilometres (16.2 mi) southwest of Edmonton, the provincial capital, and located along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River

North Saskatchewan River

The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows east from the Canadian Rockies to central Saskatchewan. It is one of two major rivers that join to make up the Saskatchewan River....

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History

Devon owes its existence to one of the largest oil discoveries in the world. On 1947 February 13, the Imperial Leduc #1

Leduc No. 1

Leduc No. 1 was a major crude oil discovery made near Leduc, Alberta, Canada on February 13, 1947. It provided the geological key to Alberta's most prolific conventional oil reserves and resulted in a boom in petroleum exploration and development across Western Canada...

 well

Oil well

An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...

 struck oil, and the new town of Devon was constructed shortly thereafter by Imperial Oil

Imperial Oil

Imperial Oil Limited is Canada's largest petroleum company. The company is engaged in the exploration, production and sale of crude oil and natural gas. It is controlled by US based ExxonMobil, which owns 69.6% of its stock...

 to accommodate its workers. The company was determined that the town would be well-planned, and Devon holds the distinction of being the first Canadian community to be approved by a Regional Planning Commission. The oil industry remains a major player in the town's business sector, though the economy has diversified to include tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

, manufacturing

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

, and research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

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Devon is named after the Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

 formation (the strata tapped in the Leduc #1 oil well), which in turn is named for Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 county, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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Amenities

Devon is amply served by schools, community services such as the Devon General Hospital

Devon General Hospital

The Devon General Hospital is a 21-bed acute care and continuing care facility in Devon, Alberta. There are 9 acute, 10 continuing, and 2 respite beds...

, and recreational facilities. It is only ten minutes away from the Edmonton International Airport

Edmonton International Airport

Edmonton International Airport is the primary air passenger and air cargo facility in the Edmonton region in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is a hub facility for Northern Alberta and Northern Canada providing regularly scheduled nonstop flights to over fifty communities in Canada, the United...

, and is close to major rail routes and highways. It is located close to a motor sports park, a bird sanctuary, a botanical garden (the Devonian Gardens

Devonian Botanical Garden

The Devonian Botanic Garden is Canada's most northerly botanical garden. It was established in 1959 by the University of Alberta, and is located near the town of Devon, Alberta. The gardens extend over 30 hectares of 12,000 year old sand dune shoreline of pre-glacial Lake Edmonton, and include an...

), and a number of other attractions to residents and visitors. Devon and area is popular with cyclists, as it has a good network of paved country roads, as well as unpaved mountain bike trails, and has hosted high level cycling events such as Canada's 2010 National Road Championships.

Demographics

The population of the Town of Devon according to its 2009 municipal census is 6,534.

In 2006, Devon had a population of 6,256 living in 2,342 dwellings

House

A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

, a 25.9% increase from 2001. The town has a land area of 8.63 km² (3.3 sq mi) and a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 725.2 /km2.

Schools

• Devon Christian School
• Holy Spirit Catholic School
• John Maland High School
  John Maland High School
  John Maland High School is located in Devon, Alberta, Canada. It teaches students from Grade 10-12. The current principal is Dan Blackburn.-External links:*...
  
  
• Riverview Middle School
• Robina Baker Elementary

External links

• Town of Devon