Fort Macleod was founded in 1874 with the arrival of the North West Mounted Police. A community of settlers and businesses that serviced the cattle industry formed outside of the fort. By 1892 when the Calgary and Edmonton Railway reached the community, the town was large enough to become incorporated.
Development of the town center continued until 1906 when a fire on Main Street destroyed most of the wood frame structures. Town Council then passed a bylaw requiring future buildings to be constructed of brick or stone, which was sourced locally. Optimism for growth continued, and by 1911 the Fort Macleod Board of Trade was promoting the town as the hub of southern Alberta.
In the 1980’s, Fort Macleod participated in Alberta Main Streets, a program that helped reverse the long term effects of depopulation and service decline experienced by many smaller communities throughout the province. Restoration of the original Edwardian Classical Revival buildings was funded by a grant from the province in 1982. In 1984, Main Street Fort Macleod became the first Designated Historic Area in Alberta and only one of two protected areas in the province.
The Fort Macleod Provincial Historic Area encompasses approximately 6 blocks of Fort Macleod’s commercial core. Of the downtown buildings that contribute to the area, five were built prior to the 1906 fire, all having been faced with brick or locally quarried sandstone. The Territorial Court House, now the town hall (1902 – 04) was designated by the province in 1979 and became a National Historic site in 1980). Four other historic buildings, including the iconic Empress Theatre (built 1912, provincially designated in 1982) round out the mix of government, commercial, financial, hospitality and entertainment uses needed to service the townsfolk and the broader rural community.
The town promotes walking tours of the area that explain the past uses of the historic buildings. Many films and tv shows have been shot using the main street as the backdrop, including the HBO series ‘The Last of Us’.
