Morinville is a town in central Alberta

Central Alberta

Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province...

, 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...

. It is located 34 km (21.1 mi) north of Edmonton on Highway 2.

History

Morinville was settled by Father Morin, an Oblate

Oblate (religion)

An oblate in Christian monasticism is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service. Currently, oblate has two meanings:...

 missionary, who brought many French settlers in the late 1800s, followed by several German pioneers—hence its many French and German families such as Hittinger, Riopel, Boissonnault, Tailleur, Houle, Labonté, St. Laurent, Maisonneuve, Bokenfohr, Krauskopf, Rustemier, and Meyers.

The monument located in the St. Jean Baptiste Park lists the many names of pioneers and settlers to Morinville. Once situated on the street at 100 Avenue and 100 Street, the monument was moved to its present location in 2000, as it was a safety hazard and very difficult to enjoy with all the traffic at the intersection.

The Roman Catholic Church of the St. Jean Baptiste Parish was built in 1907. The church, along with its adjacent but now inoperative convent Morinville Convent, was declared a historical site in 1975. In 2005, the grounds of the church were landscaped with a clock tower, new grass, trees and shrubs, in celebration of Alberta's 100th anniversary as a province

Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...

.

Morinville has a long history of successful business ventures as one of the first locations in Western Canada to open a Royal Bank of Canada in 1910 and a credit union in 1940. A series of successful international business ventures include Champion Pet Foods that exports around the world.

Demographics

The population of the Town of Morinville according to its 2011 municipal census is 8,503, a 11.4% increase over its 2009 municipal census population of 7,636.

In 2006, Morinville had a population of 6,775 living in 2,401 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 3.6% increase from 2001. The town has a land area of 11.34 km² (4.4 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 597.4 inhabitants per square kilometer.

Seven percent of Morinville residents still speak French, most of whom are elderly. A bilingual mass is conducted at the Catholic Church on Sundays.

Businesses

Morinville’s business community consists mostly of small businesses. Some of the businesses in Morinville include two grocery stores, fast food restaurants, a recreational vehicle dealership, and a car dealership.

One of the town’s larger businesses, Champion Pet Foods, employs approximately 50 people. The business emits an odour that often blankets the community and has generated numerous complaints as a result.

The Town of Morinville is undertaking an economic development strategy to attract new businesses in order to increase its commercial/industrial tax base. As of 2010, 93% of its tax base is residential in nature. In the interim, the town has introduced a stepped tax break program to attract businesses.

Recreation

Recreation amenities in Morinville include walking trails, a splash park, a trout pond, a skateboard park, a hockey arena, a curling rink, numerous parks and playgrounds, and outdoor fitness equipment stations along the trail system and at the splash park among other amenities. Other recreation amenities are available in St. Albert and Edmonton to the south.

Additional recreation amenities are being considered by the town as it grows. One of the amenities currently being considered is the development of a swimming pool.

Education

Prior to 2011, Morinville held the distinction of having only public Catholic schools (part of the Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division), and no secular or Protestant schools of any kind. The public Sturgeon School Division, which provided school programming to surrounding Sturgeon County

Sturgeon County, Alberta

Sturgeon County is a municipal district in Alberta's Edmonton Capital Region, Canada.It begins at the north end of Edmonton, with 97th street turning into Highway 28. It extends east to Fort Saskatchewan and west to Calahoo. It is located in Division No. 11....

, did not provide school programming in Morinville. This led to non-Catholic parents starting an advocacy campaign to introduce a secular option for education in Morinville. In response, Sturgeon School Division and the Town of Morinville came to an agreement to provide space for a secular education program for grades 1–4 for the 2011–2012 school year. Further, the Government of Alberta committed to conducting a census in Morinville, Legal, St. Albert, and a portion of Sturgeon County to determine the minority faith in the area as a precursor to developing a long-term solution to address the issue of secular education in Morinville.

External links

• Town of Morinville
• AlbertaFirst. Morinville Statistics
• MorinvilleNews.com