
The Town of Hardisty was named after Senator Richard Hardisty. It began in 1906 as a Hamlet, and officially became a Town in 1911. The first people we know of to live in the Battle River Valley were the First Nations Peoples. This country was the wintering grounds for thousands of buffalo, moose, elk and deer, which attracted these people to the area. The Town of Hardisty owes its existence to the CPR. About 1904 the surveyors began to survey the railroad from the east and decided to locate a divisional point at Hardisty because of the good water supply from the river. Although this was a trading centre as early as 1904, it became a boomtown by 1906, spawned by the influx of workers who were building the CPR. By the fall of 1906 the rail line reached Hardisty from Daysland. Then began the task of building the bridge, a task which took about three (3) years. Settlers also began arriving in large numbers. During 1906 to 1907, Hardisty was referred to as a tent town because people lived in tents until lumber could be hauled in. Business places sprang up overnight and, as with many towns, they were built along the railroad track.
Excepts from "Those Years from Rail to Oil; A History of Hardisty and Surrounding Area," © Copyright 1981, Hardisty History Book Committee.