Attraction Details
North America’s largest interactive historic park, Fort Edmonton Park is a place where time has stopped and is waiting for you to experience life as it was through four historical periods. Go back in time more than 150 years and walk through the days of the fur trade, and the pioneer years of 1885, 1905 and 1920 – costumed interpreters bring the past to life, answer your questions and invite you to experience the best of the period. Take a ride on a steam train, play pioneer games, bake bread the old-fashioned way, shop ‘til you drop, or hit the midway for rides games and more fun – it’s all right here waiting for you.
Providing the best in living history, Fort Edmonton Park is situated on 64 hectares (158 acres) of parkland in Edmonton’s river valley. What began as a Canada Centennial project in 1967 to reconstruct the old Fort Edmonton, quickly grew to encompass much more. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Fort Edmonton Foundation, the Park now includes the 1846 Fort and the Streets of 1885, 1905 and 1920, depicting the evolution of Edmonton’s early history. Fort Edmonton Park is owned and operated by the City of Edmonton.
Originally, Fort Edmonton was built in 1795 by the Hudson’s Bay Company as part of the westward expansion of the fur trade. It was named after an estate in Edmonton, Middlesex, England (now part of greater London) owned by Sir James Winter Lake, Deputy Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
A shortage of firewood forced the Fort to relocate in 1802 to a place that is now downtown Edmonton. This would be the first of many relocations with the final location of the Fort Edmonton being set in 1830 on the site of what is now the Provincial Legislature grounds. Fort Edmonton stood here until it was eventually dismantled in 1915.