New Norway


New Norway is a hamlet located within Camrose County in central Alberta, Canada. Named in 1895, it is located on Highway 21, approximately southeast of Edmonton and southwest of Camrose.
New Norway is home to a number of small businesses, and has an elementary and secondary school, local fire protection and municipal services provided by Camrose County.

History

In 1892, travelling first on the newly constructed Canadian Pacific Railway line, the Ole M. Olstad family disembarked in Wetaskiwin and made their way to the Duhamel settlement, which had been established for some years. The family quickly filed homesteads a few miles south for themselves and several relatives and friends in the United States. In addition they purchased available CPR land for $3.00 per acre.
For a time the area was known as the "Olstead District". However, as other Norwegian families settled in the area, the name changed to New Norway around 1895. By 1903 the fledgling community had a school, general store, and a blacksmith shop to its credit.
In the fall of 1909, in anticipation of the new Grand Trunk Pacific rail line being built nearby, the community was moved to its present location NW-11-45-21-W4. According to the Camrose Canadian, the townsite of New Norway was put on sale October 14, 1909, with 14 businesses filing intent to establish within the first month. Commercial lots sold from $100 to $250, and residential lots were priced from $50 to $150.
New Norway incorporated as a village on May 6, 1910, and its first council was elected on May 9, 1910 with Norman M. Smith, James F. Willows and Evan O. Olstad serving.
Over a century later, the Village of New Norway was dissolved to hamlet status under the jurisdiction of Camrose County effective November 1, 2012.

Demographics

As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, New Norway recorded a population of 320 living in 126 of its 136 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 278. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2016.
In the 2011 Census, New Norway had a population of 283 living in 114 of its 128 total dwellings, a -12.4% change from its 2006 population of 323. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2011.