Beverly, Alberta

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 $703,000 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. That same year, Gustav C. Bergman was elected town mayor. 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. Five years later, in 1961, after being promised a new bridge for vehicular traffic across the North Saskatchewan River at 50 Street, residents of Beverly cast ballots in a referendum regarding amalgamation with Edmonton in which 62% voted in favour. Beverly was subsequently absorbed by Edmonton on December 30, 1961, with Edmonton assuming the town's $4.16 million debt ($41.6 million today). The 50th Street bridge has yet to materialize.