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For #internationalwomensday we're sharing a photograph of Muriel Abdurahman, the first woman to hold the office of Mayor of Fort Saskatchewan.Muriel Ross was born in Lochmaben, Scotland, in 1938, and grew up on Whitelaird Farm. She studied nursing at Dumfries at the age of 16 before moving to Glasgow at 18 to work. In Glasgow, she met and married Dr. Abdul Abdurahman, with whom she would have four children.After relatively short stints in Guyana, and Mosely, England, the Abdurahman family decided to move to Canada in 1968. They settled briefly in Breton, Alberta, before moving to Fort Saskatchewan in 1971. Muriel soon became active in municipal politics, first as a policy activist and then as a town councilor for one term between 1977 and 1980. In 1980, Muriel became Mayor of Fort Saskatchewan. During her tenure as mayor, she oversaw the incorporation of Fort Saskatchewan as a city in 1984 and the removal of train service through downtown. She resigned from her position as mayor in 1986, before the end of her second term. Although she left municipal politics, Muriel stayed active in public service sitting on a variety of public boards, including the Peter Lougheed Commission on Health Care, and as a long-term member and Chairperson of the Alberta Hospital Association.In 1993, Muriel returned to politics when she became the M.L.A. for Cloverbar-Fort Saskatchewan electoral district, serving in that position until 1997. After Muriel retired from politics, she sat on the Alberta Press Council, the County of Strathcona Youth Justice Committee, and then the Strathcona Library Board before she passed away in 2013. The photo below is from the Fort Saskatchewan incorporation celebration, held on July 1, 1984. #internationalwomensday2021 #IWD2021 #idw #women #WomensHistoryMonth #womenleaders ... See MoreSee Less

Ca. 1975 – 1984. Fort Saskatchewan Community Hall, formerly located on 102 Street downtown.In 1938, after thirty years of collecting funds for a public hospital that would not actually come to fruition until 1966, the Town of Fort Saskatchewan instead used the hospital fund of $4000 to build this community hall. Some of the materials used to build the hall came from the Memorial Hall (Mansion House Hotel) and the Empress Theatre, both torn down in 1938. The hall officially opened on Friday, October 14, 1938, with a dance attended by 800 people. It was home to many different organizations over its lifespan, including the United Church in 1947 after its own building burned down, The Church of Nazarene from 1954 to 1956, and the public library from 1953 to 1962. Do you remember the Fort Saskatchewan Community Hall? Please share your memories in the comments!#fortsaskatchewan #yeg #yegheritage #LostYEG #historicalbuilding #albertacanada #CommunityHall #community ... See MoreSee Less

Fort Heritage Precinct

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