Ever wonder who Olds' first mayor was?
Did you know a father and son sat in the mayor's seat 50 years apart?
Want to know who was the town's longest serving mayor?
One only has to rummage through the Olds Historical Society's archives at the Mountain View Museum to discover a wealth of knowledge about Olds' electoral history.
Painting a picture of the town's political evolution over the past century could fill several issues of this newspaper, so the Olds Albertan decided instead to give a snapshot of Olds' electoral legacy:
Before Olds had a mayor, it had an overseer.
In 1900, when Olds was declared a village within the North-West Territories, W.J. Brumpton was appointed the community's overseer.
He served in that position until 1905, the year Alberta became a province and Olds was incorporated as a town, when William (Billy) Dean became Olds' first mayor.
It was also the year Brumpton died.
Dean served two years as mayor and was succeeded by S.J. (Sam) Craig in 1907.
Between 1907 and 1913, mayors served for roughly one year and following Craig the roster of mayors included Robert Hainstock, who served a one-year term in 1908-09 and again in 1911, F.J. (Fred) Shackleton, J.W. Silverthorn—who was Olds' first official postmaster— and William Grant.
Shackleton, who was mayor in 1910, also served on Olds council from 1905 to 1907, in 1919 and 1920 and from 1929 to 1938 and 50 years after he was mayor, his son, Edwin J. Shackleton, was head of government in town from 1960 to 1963.
Edwin was also the first mayor born in Olds and the only other person born in town who served as mayor was Robert E. Armstrong, whose term began in 1979 and lasted until 1995, the longest run in office for any Olds mayor.
Grant only served from January to June of 1913 and, according to the archives, it is not fully known why he didn't complete his term.
One account states he resigned and another account suggests he may have been defeated in a special election.
When the province's new municipal affairs department was established in December 1912, 55 new rural municipalities came into existence in Alberta.
These municipal changes across the province may have required that an election be held in Olds, which Grant lost.
After Grant came Dr. Henry Proctor Kenney and Robert Bowman Campbell, who was mayor in 1919 and 1920 and again from 1929 to 1936.
It was in 1931, during Campbell's second stint as mayor, that, because of the Great Depression, the town office had to be sold.
Following Campbell's first term came Rev. George Wood, L.L. (Lot) Hartman, Walter F. Bliss and A.A. (Art) Dunkley.
After Campbell's second stint, Kenney and Dunkley both served again, followed by E.G. (Ted) Miller, Edwin Shackleton, George Richards, T.W. (Bill) Edgar, W.A. (Bill) Hoffman.
During Hoffman's run as mayor, from 1972 to 1974, he formed the town's management structure, appointing a town manager and secretary.
Edgar was then mayor again, followed by Robert Armstrong and Alan W. Taylor.
The reign of consecutive male mayors ended in 1998 when Norma Lea Duncan was elected.
She was succeeded in October 2004 by Olds' current mayor, Judy Dahl, who began her career with the town in 1990 as an administrative assistant to the mayor, council and the town's chief executive officer through four terms.
Will Dahl win a fourth term?
Find out on Oct. 21 when Olds goes to the polls to elect a new council.
