Longview, Alberta

Longview
Village
Village of Longview
Longview seen across the Highwood River
Longview
Coordinates:
Country	Canada
Province	Alberta
Region	Southern Alberta
Census Division	No. 6
Municipal district	M.D. of Foothills No. 31
Government
• Mayor	Carole MacLeod
• Governing body	Longview Village Council
Area (2011)
• Total	1.09 km2 (0.42 sq mi)
Elevation	1,240 m (4,070 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	307
• Density	282.1/km2 (731/sq mi)
Time zone	MST (UTC-7)
Highways	22 541
Waterways	Highwood River
Website	Official website

Longview is a village in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located in the Canadian Rockies foothills, on Cowboy Trail, 32 km west of High River and 64 km south of Calgary. Highwood River flows west of the village.

Longview is known for its view west toward the first range of the Rocky Mountains, its cattle ranching heritage and its natural resources (principally oil), but more importantly the open spaces, rivers (the Highwood) and some of the finest beef by most standards.

Longview is also known as the home of Canadian Country Music star Ian Tyson.

Demographics

In the 2011 Census, the Village of Longview had a population of 307 living in 131 of its 140 total dwellings, a 2.3% change from its 2006 population of 300. With a land area of 1.09 km² (0.42 sq mi), it had a population density of 281.7/km² (729.5/sq mi) in 2011.

The population of the Village of Longview according to its 2007 municipal census is 334.

In 2006, Longview had a population of 300 living in 135 dwellings, the same as in 2001. The village has a land area of 1.09 km² (0.42 sq mi) and a population density of 275.7 inhabitants per square kilometer.

History

The Long brothers’, Thomas and Oliver, homesteaded at Big Hill, not far from where the village is now. Their last name combined with the view from the then post office, which was opened in 1908, is how the village was named. When the oilfields at Turner Valley were revived in 1936, Longview became known as Little New York. Little New York, had a sister town uphill to the north called Little Chicago. No one seems to know how Little Chicago and Little New York got their names and both towns actually grew up over night. In 1936 there was nothing there but an empty prairie field. Then, in 1937, oil was discovered at the 6,828-foot (2,081 m) level and people, most of them long out of work because of the great depression, came flocking and Little Chicago and Little New York were born. Buildings appeared like mushrooms. For the first time in years, men who without so much as a coat on their backs or a nickel in their pockets had the first money they had earned since the depression began. Today Little Chicago is gone and except a monument near the Cowboy Trail to the north of the village, little remains to show it ever existed. Little New York was more fortunate, as it is now the village of Longview.

In 1991, Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning film Unforgiven was filmed in and around Longview, as was the television film starring Tom Selleck, Monte Walsh.

See also

• List of communities in Alberta
• List of villages in Alberta