Redwater, Alberta
town in Alberta, Canada

Redwater is a town in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region of Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Sturgeon County. It is located on Highway 38, approximately 52 km (32 mi) north of Edmonton. Its population was 2,053 in the 2016 census, while the town's municipal census conducted in 2012 counted a population of 2,116.
History
In the early 1900s, the area where Redwater stands was settled first by Ukrainian settlers, and followed by English and French settlers. The name Redwater is a reference to the nearby Redwater River, an ochre-coloured tributary that drains into the North Saskatchewan River.
The survey of the Redwater area was registered on September 7, 1906. The original post office, established in 1907 at a location to the east of present-day Redwater, was moved in 1919 to the current town site when Redwater was established as a hamlet. On December 31, 1949 it was incorporated as a village, becoming a town a year later on December 31, 1950.
Originally, Redwater was primarily a farming community. The 1948 discovery of oil in the area transformed the hamlet of about 160 people into a town of 1,306 by 1951.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Redwater, Alberta” is town in Alberta, Canada. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Redwater, Alberta and town, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “town in Alberta, Canada” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6593705. Authority coordinates are 53.949, -113.107. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2016, 2012, 1906 and 1907.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Redwater, Alberta” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.