Langdon, Alberta

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Langdon is a hamlet (unincorporated community) in southern Alberta, Canada in the Municipal District of Rocky View.

Location of Langdon
Alberta Census Division No. 6
Aerial view of Langdon in winter
Aerial view of Langdon in winter

Langdon is located approximately 16 kilometers or 10 miles east of the City of Calgary on Highway 560 (Glenmore Trail). Highway 22X also leads to Langdon.

Langdon is one of the fastest growing hamlets in the Calgary Region and Alberta with a population of approximately 3,500 in 2006.

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[edit] History

Langdon was named for R.B. Langdon of Langdon & Shepard,[1] Canadian Pacific Railway subcontracting firm who built a section of the line just east of Calgary. Both the Langdon and Shepard stations took their names from these men. Langdon was one of two people to turn the first sod in the settlement in 1882. A year later, a railway station was set up in a boxcar and named after him.[2]

A post office was established in January 1, 1890.

The community of Langdon became known as the “good luck town” because in the twenty-five years between 1883 and 1908, there was not one death. It was also considered lucky because it was situated on the railroad’s horseshoe shaped turnaround.

After a long period of stagnation, Langdon began to grow again in the 1990s and 2000s, with a number of major residential developments under way. This is due to its proximity to Calgary, and like other towns near Calgary, it is becoming a bedroom community.

A new commercial development currently under construction is being designed as a reconstruction of the way Langdon's main street looked in 1908.[3].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Langdon Crossings
  2. ^ Read, Tracey (1983). Acres and Empires – A History of the Municipal District of Rocky View, Calgary, Alberta.
  3. ^ Mainstreet Langdon 1908
  • Karamitsanis, Aphrodite (1992). Place Names of Alberta – Volume II, Southern Alberta, University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta.

[edit] Surrounding communities

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 50°58′07.0″N 113°40′46.3″W / 50.96861, -113.679528 (Langdon, Alberta)