A makeshift settlement existed in central Edmonton for nearly 100 years
Where there is now a condo complex and rows of houses, there was once a small settlement in Riverdale known locally as “Dogpatch” where many residents lived in tar paper shacks and went without water or sewer lines.
The settlement sat along the banks of the North Saskatchewan River, south of 100 Avenue, between 92 and 87 streets. A 1950s fire insurance plan offers a glimpse of the community, with homes labelled as “Squatters’ Frame Shacks”.
City of Edmonton
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Riverdale was an inexpensive place for new immigrants to settle in the late 1890s and early 1900s, thanks in part to jobs at D.R. Fraser’s lumber mill and J.B. Little’s brickyard. Many newcomers to the area came from Holland, and the land between the brickyard and the river became known as the Dutch Settlement.
City of Edmonton Archives
The section of land was owned by brickyard owner James Little, who rented it to residents through a ground rent arrangement. Although water and sewer lines were never installed, residents built modest homes, tended gardens, and raised chickens. Water was collected from a community tap, and outhouses were the norm.
City of Edmonton Archives
It earned the nickname “Dogpatch,” a somewhat unflattering reference to the impoverished setting of the Li’l Abner comic strip, which ran in newspapers from 1934 to 1977.
Former residents were said to have had mixed memories about living in the area. Some remembered the hardship of raising a large family in a tar paper shack, and trying to keep bedbugs off the children as they slept. Others had fond memories of being close to nature and with lots of children with which to play.
City of Edmonton Archives
Many residents left after a financial crash in 1913, and by 1984, about 15 people still called the area home. After years of concern over the lack of plumbing, the City pressured J.B. Little and Sons to evict the remaining residents. Notices were distributed that August, giving them until March 1985 to move.
Once the last residents had left, the City deposited clay that had been excavated during construction of Canada Place on the former settlement, further obscuring Dogpatch from public memory.
Although the settlement is long gone, its history lives on in a couple of familiar Riverdale spots, including Little Brick Cafe, housed in the historic J.B. Little Brickyard House, and Riverdale’s Dogpatch restaurant, named after the former community.
Did you know about the Dogpatch settlement? Let us know in the comments.