Lethbridge

Lethbridge, city in southern Alberta, Canada, on the Oldman River. Lethbridge is a commercial, service, and manufacturing center situated in a region of irrigated crop farming, cattle raising, lumbering, and petroleum and natural-gas production. The city grew as a manufacturer of goods such as processed foods, trailers, farm machinery, wood and metal products, electronic equipment, cellular telephones, aircraft engines, manufactured housing, and building materials. Service and trade industries employ more than half of the city's workers.

Lethbridge is the site of the University of Lethbridge; Lethbridge Community College, the first public community college in Canada; and several research facilities, including the Lethbridge Research Centre, one of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s largest regional research centers. Attractions in Lethbridge include the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens in Henderson Park and Fort Whoop-Up, a replica of an 1870s whiskey trading post. The fort is located in Indian Battle Park. Lethbridge is also home to the Sir Alexander Galt Museum, which contains exhibits on the history of the region; Canadian statesman and entrepreneur Sir Alexander Galt was influential in the early development of the area. The Southern Alberta Art Gallery and the Helen Schuler Coulee Centre, located in the Lethbridge Nature Reserve, are also in the city. Among the city’s annual events are Whoop-Up Days and the International Air Show, both in the summer.

Established in the 1880s as a mining town known as Coalbanks, the settlement was renamed for the industrialist William Lethbridge when the railroad reached it in 1885. Lethbridge incorporated as a city in 1906.

Lethbridge covers a land area of 119.9 sq km (46.3 sq mi). Population 60,974 (1991); 67,374 (2001).