Editing Lethbridge (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Lethbridge}}
[[File:Part of Round Street, Lethbridge, AB.jpg|thumb|left|Round Street in 1911]]
Before the 19th century, the Lethbridge area was populated by several [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] at various times. The [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfoot]] referred to the area as ''Aksaysim'' ("steep banks"), ''Mek-kio-towaghs'' ("painted rock"), ''Assini-etomochi'' ("where we slaughtered the Cree") and ''Sik-ooh-kotok'' ("coal"). The [[Tsuutʼina Nation|Tsuutʼina]] (Sarcee) referred to it as ''Chadish-kashi'' ("black/rocks"), the [[Cree]] as ''Kuskusukisay-guni'' ("black/rocks"), and the [[Nakoda people|Nakoda]] (Stoney) as ''Ipubin-saba-akabin'' ("digging coal").<ref name="Ellis" /> The [[Kutenai]] referred to it as ''ʔa•kwum''.<ref>{{Cite web | title=FirstVoices: Nature / Environment—place names: words. Ktunaxa. | access-date=July 7, 2012 | url=http://www.firstvoices.com/en/Ktunaxa/word-query-results?q=id&btn=Search&archive=Ktunaxa&lang=en | archive-date=June 27, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627152551/http://www.firstvoices.com/en/Ktunaxa/word-query-results?q=id&btn=Search&archive=Ktunaxa&lang=en | url-status=live}}</ref>

After the [[United States Army]] stopped alcohol trading with the [[Blackfeet Nation]] in [[Montana]] in 1869, traders [[John Healy (entrepreneur)|John J. Healy]] and Alfred B. Hamilton started a whisky trading post at Fort Hamilton, near the future site of Lethbridge. The post's nickname became [[Fort Whoop-Up]].<ref name="Ellis">{{cite web|url=http://www.lethbridge.ca/home/Enjoying+Lethbridge/Picture+Gallery/Short+History.htm |title=A Short History of Lethbridge, Alberta |author=Greg Ellis |date=October 2001 |access-date=January 17, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050923135454/http://www.lethbridge.ca/home/Enjoying%2BLethbridge/Picture%2BGallery/Short%2BHistory.htm |archive-date=September 23, 2005}}</ref> The whisky trade led to the [[Cypress Hills Massacre]] of many native [[Assiniboine]] in 1873. The [[North-West Mounted Police]], sent to stop the trade and establish order,<ref name="Ellis"/> arrived at Fort Whoop-Up on October 9, 1874. They managed the post for the next 12 years.<ref name="Ellis"/>

[[File:Leth old.jpg|thumb|left|[[Downtown Lethbridge]] in 1911]]
Lethbridge's economy developed from [[drift mining|drift mines]] opened by [[Nicholas Sheran]] in 1874 and the [[North Western Coal and Navigation Company]] in 1882. North Western's president was [[William Lethbridge]], from whom the city derives its name.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indian Battle Park |publisher=City of Lethbridge |url=http://www.lethbridge.ca/home/City+Hall/Departments/Parks+-+Pathways+-+Trails/Major+Parks/Indian+Battle+Park/Indian+Battle+Park.htm |access-date=February 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040828085321/http://www.lethbridge.ca/home/City%2BHall/Departments/Parks%2B-%2BPathways%2B-%2BTrails/Major%2BParks/Indian%2BBattle%2BPark/Indian%2BBattle%2BPark.htm |archive-date=August 28, 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Place-names of Alberta|year=1928|publisher=Geographic Board of Canada|location=Ottawa|page=76|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015070267029&view=1up&seq=80|access-date=November 15, 2020|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019222009/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015070267029&view=1up&seq=80|url-status=live}}</ref> By the turn of the century, the mines employed about 150 men and produced {{Convert|300|t|ST}} of coal each day.<ref name="Ellis"/> In 1896, local collieries were the largest coal producers in the [[Northwest Territories]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lethbridge.ca/home/Enjoying+Lethbridge/Picture+Gallery/History+of+Lethbridge/Masonry+Sculptures/Masonry.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217015512/http://www.lethbridge.ca/home/Enjoying%2BLethbridge/Picture%2BGallery/History%2Bof%2BLethbridge/Masonry%2BSculptures/Masonry.htm|title=City of Lethbridge website|archive-date=December 17, 2005}}</ref> with production peaking during [[World War I]]. An [[internment]] camp was set up at the Exhibition Building in Lethbridge from September 1914 to November 1916.<ref>{{cite web|title=Internment Camps in Canada during the First and Second World Wars, Library and Archives Canada|date=June 11, 2014|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/the-public/005-1142.27-e.html|access-date=September 5, 2014|archive-date=September 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905213052/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/the-public/005-1142.27-e.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After the war, increasing oil and natural gas production gradually replaced coal production,<ref name="Ellis"/> and the last mine in Lethbridge closed in 1957.

The first rail line in Lethbridge was opened on August 28, 1885, by the Alberta Railway and Coal Company,<ref name="Ellis" /> which bought the [[North Western Coal and Navigation Company]] five years later.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alphabetical list of Private Acts—Railways |work=Table of Private Acts (1867 to December 31, 2013), Railways |publisher=Department of Justice Canada |url=http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/TablePrivateActs/railways.html |date=November 27, 2014 |access-date=November 30, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223205826/http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/TablePrivateActs/railways.html |archive-date=December 23, 2014}}</ref> The rail industry's dependence on coal and the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]]'s (CPR) efforts to settle southern Alberta with immigrants boosted Lethbridge's economy. After the CPR moved the [[divisional point]] of its Crowsnest Line from [[Fort Macleod]] to Lethbridge in 1905 and a new [[Lethbridge Canadian Pacific Railway Station]] (Union Station) was built in 1906, the city became the regional centre for [[Southern Alberta]].<ref name="Ellis"/> In the mid-1980s, the CPR moved its [[rail yard]]s in [[downtown Lethbridge]] to nearby [[Kipp, Alberta|Kipp]], and Lethbridge ceased to be a [[Transport hub|rail hub]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Summary |work=Highways 3 & 4, Lethbridge and Area NHS & NSTC, Functional Planning Study, #R – 970 |publisher=Stantec Consulting Ltd. | date=February 2006 |url=http://www.infratrans.gov.ab.ca/INFTRA_Content/docType182/Production/exec_summ.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621192600/http://www.infratrans.gov.ab.ca/INFTRA_Content/docType182/Production/exec_summ.pdf |archive-date=June 21, 2007|access-date=February 16, 2007}}</ref>

Between 1907 and 1913, a development boom occurred in Lethbridge, making it the main marketing, distribution and service centre in southern Alberta.<ref name="Ellis"/> Such municipal projects as a water treatment plant, a power plant, a [[Lethbridge Transit]], a [[Tram|streetcar]] system, and [[Lethbridge & District Exhibition|Exhibition Park]]—as well as a construction boom and rising real estate prices—transformed the mining town into a significant city.<ref name="Ellis"/> Between [[World War&nbsp;I]] and [[World War&nbsp;II]], however, the city experienced an economic slump. Development slowed, drought drove farmers from their farms, and coal mining rapidly declined from its peak.<ref name="Ellis"/> After World War&nbsp;II, irrigation of farmland near Lethbridge led to growth in the city's population and economy. Lethbridge became a centre for [[Tertiary education|post-secondary education]] in Southern Alberta with the opening of [[Lethbridge Polytechnic]] (formerly Lethbridge College) in April 1957 and the [[University of Lethbridge]] in 1967.<ref name="Ellis"/>

In 2015 American musician [[Marilyn Manson]] was assaulted by a local resident in the city's [[Denny's]] after the singer allegedly insulted a woman in the restaurant in the early hours of the morning.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neil |first=Lauren |date=April 8, 2015 |title=Marilyn Manson punched in face at a Denny's in Lethbridge |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/marilyn-manson-punched-in-face-at-a-denny-s-in-lethbridge-1.3024912 |access-date=October 21, 2024 |website=www.cbc.ca}}</ref>