A new exhibit at the Okotoks Museum and Archives highlights the contributions that Okotoks has made to Canada's history.

Town of Okotoks Museum Specialist Kathy Coutts says the exhibit is called "Okotoks - Our Place in History" and is part of an ongoing series of exhibits dedicated to Canada 150.

"It's certainly not as old as Canada, but it has a really rich history," she explains. "Everything from how Okotoks came to be, why it is called Okotoks, why people immigrated here.
So the exhibit touches on some of the highlights of Okotoks' history over the last 150 years."

Coutts points out that Okotoks was established as a village in 1893 and officially became a town in 1904. She said a large part of the birth of Okotoks had to do with the Macleod Trail that passed through this area and the travelers that made their way between Fort Macleod and Fort Calgary.

"Location is everything. So the fact that the Macleod Trail passed through this area led to the development of stopping houses, which led to the development of more and more businesses that came here to serve the travelers along the Macleod Trail."

She points out that, around the time Canada became a country, the Blackfoot First Nation made their living from the land in this area.

"Back 150 years ago, it was before the signing of Treaty 7, so the Blackfoot would have been in this area, traveling and following the bison and living off the land," she explains. "So this would have been their territory."

She says that two local landmarks would have likely been as familiar to people living here back then as they are to residents today.

"A couple of things that haven't changed over the 150 years; the Big Rock would have been there and also the Sheep River."

Coutts points out that the name Okotoks comes from the Blackfoot word for "big rock."

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