New Norway, Alberta
Encyclopedia
New Norway is a small rural village located in the central prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
s 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...
. Named in 1895 and properly established in 1909, it is located on Hwy 21, approximately 100 kilometres (60 mi) SSE of Edmonton and 22 kilometres (14 mi) SW of Camrose
Camrose, Alberta
Camrose is a city in central Alberta, Canada, amid some of the richest farmland in the prairies. It is a relatively small city which originally grew up along a railroad and now grows along Highway 13. Camrose is a scenic community with many parks, leading to its moniker "The Rose City"...
, the closest major trading center.
With a population of over 300, New Norway is home to a number of small businesses, and provides its inhabitants with an elementary and secondary school, local fire protection, and municipal services.
Early history
In 1892, travelling first on the newly constructed Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CPR) line, the Ole M. Olstad family disembarked in Wetaskiwin
Wetaskiwin, Alberta
Wetaskiwin is a small city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word wītaskīwin-ispatinaw , meaning "the hills where peace was made"....
and made their way to the Duhamel
Duhamel, Alberta
Duhamel is a hamlet in the central Alberta, Canada within Camrose County. It is located on Highway 21, approximately southeast of Edmonton and southwest of Camrose, Duhamel's closest major trading centre.- Early history :...
settlement, which had been established for some years. The family quickly filed homestead
Homesteading
Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple self-sufficiency.-Current practice:The term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading...
s a few miles south for themselves and several relatives and friends in the United States. In addition they purchased available CPR land for $3.00 per acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
($7.41/ha
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
).
For a time the area was known as the "Olstead District". However, as other Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
families (along with those of other nationalities) settled in the area, the name changed to New Norway around 1895. By 1903 the fledgling community had a school, general store, and a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
shop to its credit.
In the fall of 1909, in anticipation of the new Grand Trunk Pacific rail line being built nearby, the town was moved (by the use of skids and seven oxen) to its present location NW-11-45-21-W4 (see Dominion Land Survey
Dominion Land Survey
The Dominion Land Survey is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout of the Public Land Survey System used in the United States, but has several differences...
). According to the Camrose Canadian
Camrose Canadian
The Camrose Canadian is a local news publication for the Camrose, Alberta area. Founded in 1908, the paper is now one of many Alberta publications owned by Bowes Publishing, a subsidiary of Sun Media, a Quebecor company....
, the townsite of New Norway was put on sale October 14, 1909, with 14 businesses filing intent to establish within the first month. Commercial lots sold from $100 to $250, and residential lots were priced from $50 to $150.
The first village council was elected on May 9, 1910 with Norman M. Smith, James F. Willows and Evan O. Olstad serving.
Geography
Nearby communities include:- DuhamelDuhamel, AlbertaDuhamel is a hamlet in the central Alberta, Canada within Camrose County. It is located on Highway 21, approximately southeast of Edmonton and southwest of Camrose, Duhamel's closest major trading centre.- Early history :...
- FerintoshFerintosh, AlbertaFerintosh is a small village in central Alberta, Canada located about south of Camrose, and southeast of Edmonton. The town itself is situated on Little Beaver Lake....
- EdbergEdberg, AlbertaEdberg is a village in central Alberta approximately south of Camrose.- Demographics :In 2006, Edberg had a population of 155 living in 63 dwellings, a 3.3% increase from 2001. The village has a land area of and a population density of ....
- CamroseCamrose, AlbertaCamrose is a city in central Alberta, Canada, amid some of the richest farmland in the prairies. It is a relatively small city which originally grew up along a railroad and now grows along Highway 13. Camrose is a scenic community with many parks, leading to its moniker "The Rose City"...
- WetaskiwinWetaskiwin, AlbertaWetaskiwin is a small city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word wītaskīwin-ispatinaw , meaning "the hills where peace was made"....
Demographics
In 2006, New Norway had a population of 323 living in 121 dwellingsHouse
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 10.6% increase from 2001. The village has a land area of 1.12 km² (0.432434417623639 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 289.7 /km2.