Grande Prairie

Grande Prairie is a city in Alberta, Canada. It is at the crossing of Highway 43 and Highway 40 (the Bighorn Highway).

Grande Prairie was the seventh-largest city in Alberta in 2021, with 64,141 people living there, and was one of Canada's fastest growing cities between 2001 and 2006, and Canada's most northern city with more than 50,000 people.

The city has the swan as its official symbol because it is close to the birds moving route.  Grande Prairie is also sometimes named the "Swan City". 

 History 
The Grande Prairie area was, before, known as Buffalo Plains, It was named after the buffalo, which was in the area. Émile Grouard, a Priest, was the first to call the city Grande Prairie. In the 18th century, there were Dane-zaa (Beaver) people living there, they traded with the North West Company at Dunvegan.

In 1880, because of the fur trade war between the Hudson Bay Company, and fur traders, in Dunvegan, a Hudson's Bay Company outpost called La Grande Prairie was established by George Kennedy.  The post was made South of Dunvegan and northwest of the present-day city of Grande Prairie.

The Edson Trail from Edson to Grande Prairie was opened in 1911 so that travelers can go to the Grande Prairie area. Grande Prairie was made into a village by the Province of Alberta in 1914. A railway was built to help travelers go there.

The railway made lots of people to go there turning it into a town on March 27, 1919. David W. Leonard, Chronology of Grande Prairie to 1951 

Grande Prairie was a part of a military stopover point, helping the town.

In 1947, There was oil and a pulp mill in the town, helping the town and making the town grow bigger.

Highway 43 was created to connect Grande Prairie to other cities, making more people live there.

The town of Grande Prairie was made into a city in 1958. At that time, there were 7,600 people living there.

The opening of the Procter & Gamble kraft pulp mill in 1972 made the town grow bigger. making the town have 12,000 population to 24,00 in just 10 years.

In the five years from 2001 to 2006, Grande Prairie was one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada, growing from 37,000 to 47,000 people living there. After 2006, the population fell, followed by a slow increase to just over 69,000 by 2018.
+ Groups in the City of Grande Prairie (2001−2021)Group20212016201120062001 European 45,770  48,145  45,685  40,090  32,325  Indigenous 7,370  6,550  5,290  4,365  2,610  Southeast Asian 4,620  3,210  1,275  600  265  South Asian 1,820  1,165  590  460  475  African 1,415  1,325  410  325  195  East Asian 790  665  685  490  315  Latin American 530  390  250  195  200  Middle Eastern 490  365  115  75  90  Other/multiracial 360  250  90  160  60  Total responses 63,175  62,055  54,390  46,755  36,535  Total population 64,141  63,166  55,655  47,076  36,983  

 Language 
As of 2021, 83.8% of residents said that English was their first language. Other common languages were Tagalog (3.4%), French (2.1%), Punjabi (0.8%), Spanish (0.8%), and German (0.6%).

 Religion 
45.8% of residents were Christian in 2021. 20.4% were Catholic,  11.3% were Christian n.o.s, 10.0% were Protestant, and 4.1% belonged to other Christian groups. The rest had other religions.

 Notable people 

 Theodore deWit "Willie deWit", former Olympic boxer
 Tanner Fritz, professional ice hockey player
 Leslie Greentree, poet
 Carolyn Dawn Johnson, country music singer-songwriter
 Kelly Sutherland (chuckwagon) retired professional chuckwagon driver
 Viktor (Eric Thompson), professional wrestler
 Tenille Townes, country music singer
 Chris Warkentin, Canadian politician
 William Paul Young, novelist
 Alex Zahara, actor

 References 

Category:Cities in Alberta