Beverly, Alberta

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Ex-municipality in Alberta, Canada (1913–1961)

title: "Beverly, Alberta" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["former-towns-in-alberta", "former-municipalities-now-in-edmonton", "localities-in-edmonton", "mining-communities-in-alberta"] description: "Ex-municipality in Alberta, Canada (1913–1961)" topic_path: "general/former-towns-in-alberta" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly,_Alberta" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Ex-municipality in Alberta, Canada (1913–1961) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
official_name	Beverly
settlement_type	Area (former town)
pushpin_map	Canada Edmonton
pushpin_label_position
pushpin_map_caption	Location of Beverly in Edmonton
pushpin_mapsize	250
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Canada
subdivision_type1	Province
subdivision_name1	Alberta
subdivision_type2	City
subdivision_name2	Edmonton
subdivision_type3	Quadrant
subdivision_name3	NW
subdivision_type4	Ward
subdivision_name4	Métis
subdivision_type5	Sector
subdivision_name5	Mature area
government_footnotes
leader_title	Mayor
leader_name
leader_title1	Administrative body
leader_name1	Edmonton City Council
leader_title2	Councillor
leader_name2
established_title	Village
established_date	March 22, 1913
established_title2	Town
established_date2	July 13, 1914
established_title3	Annexation
established_date3	December 30, 1961
area_footnotes
population_as_of
population_blank1_title	(2009–12)--
population_blank1
population_blank2_title
coordinates
elevation_m	658
::

Beverly is a former urban municipality within the Edmonton Capital Region of Alberta, Canada. Beverly was incorporated as a village on March 22, 1913 and became the Town of Beverly on July 13, 1914. The population of Beverly was 8,969 at the time of amalgamation.

Now located within northeast Edmonton, Beverly was a coal mining community that overlooked the North Saskatchewan River valley. During the first half of the twentieth century, more than 20 coal mines were active in and around the town. The larger mines provided much of the town's employment.

History

The earliest use of "Beverly" to describe the area dates to 1904, and it appears the area was named after a township in Ontario. Within a few years, there were enough people living in the area to designate the community as a hamlet.

In 1907, construction began on the Clover Bar Bridge. Unable to use the CP owned High Level Bridge in Edmonton to bring its trains north of the river, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) decided to build a bridge of its own further downstream. This brought the railway to Beverly. In the years that followed, the GTPR became the biggest shipper of coal in Alberta, with much of the coal mined in and around Beverly.

Upon becoming a village in 1913, the village council promptly passed a bylaw that "authorized borrowing up to $30,000 (more than $ today) for the construction of roads and sidewalks and the purchase of fire equipment." It was years before residents of Beverly enjoyed amenities that were increasingly being taken for granted in other communities.

Growth was fast, and in 1914, the following year, Beverly was incorporated as a town. The town council needed a town hall, and Allan Merrick Jeffers, who also designed the Alberta Legislature Building, was brought in to do the design. Allan Merrick Jeffers served as the Alberta Provincial Architect from September 1907 – 1910.

The town hall was a multi-purpose facility that also housed police, courts and the fire service on the main floor. The upper floor was used as a dance hall and a school. Located on the same site was the town jail and a corral. One of the famous five, Emily Murphy worked in the Beverly town hall as a Justice of the Peace.

For much of its life as an independent community, the economic backbone of the town came from coal mining. Records show there were over twenty larger coal mines in the area, and an unknown number of small operations as well. The GTPR even built a spur line to provide direct rail service to two of the largest mines.

The Great Depression of the 1930s was difficult on the prairies, and Beverly was hit particularly hard. In 1936, the town defaulted on its debt, and in 1937, the province appointed an administrator to manage the town. An administrator managed the town until 1948. "A provincial study revealed that by the end of the 1930s, many Beverly families had been on welfare more than ten years."

In 1956, a royal commission recommended Beverly, as well as the Town of Jasper Place and portions of surrounding rural municipalities, amalgamate with Edmonton, to which then Mayor John Sehn agreed. with Edmonton assuming the town's $4.16 million debt ($ million today). The 50th Street bridge has yet to materialize.

Timeline

1897 - Cloverbar Mine known to be in operation by this year.
1904 - First recorded use of the name, Beverly, to describe the area.
1906 - Community is designated a hamlet.
1908 - Construction of Clover Bar Bridge completed.
1910 - The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway builds spur line to Humberstone and Cloverbar coal mines.
1913 - Community incorporates as the Village of Beverly on March 22.
1914 - Village incorporates as the Town of Beverly on July 13.
1936 - Town of Beverly defaults on its debt.
1937 - Province appoints administrator to run the town.
1953 - Beverly Bridge opened.
1954 - The Beverly Coal Mine stops production.
1955 - Jubilee Park built on old Beverly Coal Mine site.
1961 - The Town of Beverly amalgamates with City of Edmonton on December 30.

Modern Beverly

In modern Edmonton, there are five neighbourhoods in the area within the former Town of Beverly – Abbottsfield, Beacon Heights, Bergman, Beverly Heights, and Rundle Heights – and the surrounding coal mines. While the coal mines are long closed, there are still many links to the old town today, from a park at the site of the Beverly Mine to buildings and neighbourhoods named for prominent residents of the old community.

Rundle Park, adjacent to the neighbourhood of Rundle Heights, has two distinctions. Named after Rev. Robert Rundle (1811–1896), the first Protestant missionary to serve at Fort Edmonton and was the first permanent missionary of any church to settle west of Manitoba. The other distinction is that the park was originally a landfill for the Town of Beverly. Pipe houses located along the riverbanks of the North Saskatchewan River help expel the methane gas compressed below the park.

Abbottsfield takes its name as an extension from the Abbott School, which was originally named after World War I veteran, Abe Abbott. Abbott moved to Beverly in 1912 and was caretaker of Beverly School from 1922 to 1958. Abbott School was opened in 1960 as an Edmonton public elementary school. Abbottsfield was originally all coal mines. Set along the riverbanks were dozens of mines and were the main source of income for the residents of the Town of Beverly. Over 60% of Edmonton's coal needs in the early stages of the 20th century came from Beverly mines.

Demographics

|1916|813 |1921|1039 |1926|931 |1931|1111 |1936|998 |1941|981 |1946|1171 |1951|2159 |1956|4602 |1961|9041 |1971| |1976| |1981| |1986| |1991| |1996| |2001| |2006| |2011|-- ::data[format=table] | Neighbourhood | url=http://edmonton.ca/city_government/facts_figures/municipal-census-results.aspx | title=Municipal Census Results – Edmonton 2012 Census | publisher=City of Edmonton | access-date=February 26, 2013}} | url=http://edmonton.ca/city_government/facts_figures/2009-municipal-census-results.aspx | title=2009 Municipal Census Results | publisher=City of Edmonton | access-date=February 26, 2013}} | Change (%) | Dwellings | url=https://data.edmonton.ca/City-Administration/Neighbourhoods-data-plus-kml-file-/65fr-66s6 | title=Neighbourhoods (data plus kml file) | publisher=City of Edmonton | access-date=February 26, 2013}} | Density (people/km2) | Total Beverly | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | Abbottsfield | | | | | | | | | | Beacon Heights | | | | | | | | | | Bergman | | | | | | | | | | Beverly Heights | | | | | | | | | | Rundle Heights | | | | | | | | ::

Government

Beverly had 18 leaders over 21 terms in the course of its history as an incorporated municipality. As a village, its first chairman was Robert T. Walker in 1913 followed by Bradley E. Simpson in 1914, both of which would later serve time as mayor in the 1920s. Upon achieving town status, Gustave C. Bergman was elected Beverly's first mayor in mid-1914. The last mayor of Beverly was John Sehn, who was the only to serve two separate terms while incorporated as a town – March 1957 to October 1959 and October 1961 to December 1961. Beverly had two administrators serve as the town's leader during the 12-year period when it was run by the province – Nicholas Rushton from February 1937 to June 1946 and Sidney V. Lea from June 1946 to June 1948.

References

"City of Edmonton Wards & Standard Neighbourhoods". City of Edmonton.
"Edmonton Developing and Planned Neighbourhoods, 2011". City of Edmonton.
"City Councillors". City of Edmonton.
Lawrence Herzog. (2000). "Built on coal: a history of Beverly, Edmonton's working class town". Beverly Community Development Society.
"Census History". City of Edmonton.
"History of Beverly Towne". Beverly Towne Community Development Society.
(August 2008). "City of Edmonton Population, Historical". City of Edmonton, Planning and Development Department.
(December 29, 2012). "Dec. 30, 1961: One-time coal-mining town of Beverly swallowed up by Edmonton". [[Postmedia Network.
Herzog, "Built on Coal", p. 16
That same year, Gustav C. Bergman was elected town mayor.The neighbourhood of Bergman located just north of the Beverly townsite was later named after Gustav C. Bergman.
[http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/appendix_a Dictionary of Architects in Canada]
Herzog, "Built on Coal", p. 59
(March 2012). "Abbottsfield/Rundle Heights Community Development Plan (Office Consolidation)". City of Edmonton.
Alexandra Zabjek. (August 23, 2014). "'Small town' in the middle of Edmonton turns 100". [[Postmedia Network]].
(1918). "Census of Prairie Provinces, 1916". [[Government of Canada]].
(1922). "Census of Canada, 1921". [[Government of Canada]].
(1927). "Census of Prairie Provinces, 1926". [[Government of Canada]].
(1932). "Census of Canada, 1931". [[Government of Canada]].
(1938). "Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1936". [[Statistics Canada.
(1944). "Eighth Census of Canada, 1941". [[Statistics Canada.
(1949). "Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1946". [[Statistics Canada.
(1953). "Ninth Census of Canada, 1951". [[Statistics Canada.
(1957). "Census of Canada, 1956". [[Statistics Canada.
(1963). "1961 Census of Canada". [[Statistics Canada.
"Municipal Census Results – Edmonton 2012 Census". City of Edmonton.
"2009 Municipal Census Results". City of Edmonton.
"Neighbourhoods (data plus kml file)". City of Edmonton.

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