Articles on the history of Sherwood Park
Sherwood Park's status as a hamlet

One other great change to take place in the Strathcona County region was the organization of the Campbelltown - Sherwood Park residential hamlet. In 1952, John Hook Campbell and John Mitchell, looking from a viewpoint just north of Sherwood Park - Salisbury's first homestead, the Smeltzer farm - envisioned a satellite town as home for the many new workers generated by the oil industries in the region.

• In 1953 they received approval from Strathcona's Municipal Council to go ahead with the project.
• The first contractors, Claremont Construction, broke sod to start the community, and in September five model homes were opened for public viewing.
• In December 1955 Gordon Walker and family rented a model home on Birch Avenue.
• That fall, Glen MacLachlan opened a food store and coffee shop on the corner of what is now Alder and Hawthorne.
• In January 1956, Cliff Otto and family moved into another model home, as did Vern and Jean Dawdy. They became this hamlet's second and third residents.
• Also, that year, Canada Post refused the submitted names of Campbelltown and Campbell Park, so the developers, perhaps thinking of the area's forested background, combined Sherwood with Park - a name which did receive approval.
• In November 1956, a volunteer Fire Brigade was set up - soon followed by a community league.
• By the end of 1956, Sherwood Park had 30 families, and has continued to grow.
• The following year a monthly newspaper, Notes and News, was being published by Henry Unrau and Keith McBride.

And so it has been with Strathcona County, from the earliest times to the present day. People in the County have a long established tradition of working together, a tradition which was inherited from our pioneer founders. It is a community developed on farming traditions, and rural beliefs.