Clairmont is a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...

 in northern Alberta

Northern Alberta

Northern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.Its primary industry is oil and gas, with large heavy oil reserves being exploited at the Athabasca Oil Sands and Wabasca Area in the east of the region...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 within the County of Grande Prairie No. 1

Grande Prairie County No. 1, Alberta

The County of Grande Prairie No. 1 is a municipal district in northwestern Alberta, Canada in Census Division No. 19.It is bounded on the south by the Wapiti River, on the east by the Smoky River and on the west by the province of British Columbia....

. It is located in the Peace Country, along Highway 2, approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Grande Prairie and 9 km (5.6 mi) south of Sexsmith

Sexsmith, Alberta

Sexsmith is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 2, north of the city of Grande Prairie.Sexsmith is located in the Peace River Country region of Alberta, and as such sits in one of the most fertile growing areas in the province...

.

Clairmont lies at an elevation of 685 m (2,247.4 ft), on the western shore of Clairmont Lake. It was named after the nearby lake, which in turn was named by Walter McFarlane (a Dominion Land Surveyor

Dominion Land Survey

The Dominion Land Survey is the method used to divide most of Western Canada into one-square-mile sections for agricultural and other purposes. It is based on the layout of the Public Land Survey System used in the United States, but has several differences...

 who mapped the area in 1909) after Claremont, Ontario

Claremont, Ontario

Claremont is a Southern Ontario community located in the north part of the City of Pickering, Ontario, Canada.It is one of many rural villages with suburban type housing mixed with older, historic buildings in the Greater Toronto Area. Brock Road, the main north-south Regional road in the area was...

.

History

Clairmont was established as a hamlet in 1915, at the time when the railroad reached this area. A post office was opened the following year and a school was opened in 1915 (but was later closed). In 1922, a large fire consumed many Clairmont businesses, while a train station was built in 1923.

Clairmont was incorporated as a village in 1917, but renounced the village status in 1946 after a downturn in economy caused by the great depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. It eventually became the municipal seat of the County of Grande Prairie No. 1.

A new school was built with municipal funding in 2007 and is scheduled for opening in 2008.

Demographics

The population of Clairmont according to the County of Grande Prairie No. 1's 2006 municipal census is 2,174.

Industry Canada shows that Clairmont's greater rural area had a total population of 1,975 living in 712 dwellings in 2001. With a land area of 247.83 km² (95.7 sq mi), its greater rural area has a population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

of 8 /km2.