Sexsmith is located in the Peace River Country region of Alberta, one of the most fertile growing areas in the province. The town was once known as the "grain capital of the British Empire": In a 10-year period from 1939 to 1949, it shipped more grain than any other port in the empire.
History
The townsite of Sexsmith was established on the homestead of Benny Foster, a 1911 settler, and was originally named "Bennville"[5] or "Benville",[6][7] but it was discovered that the name had already used by another town, so it was renamed Sexsmith after a local trapper who came to the area in 1898.[5] The railway arrived in 1916, and grain companies began building grain elevators in 1917. Because of the fertile soil, the area is one of the largest grain producing areas in the world, and by 1949 became the Grain Capital of the British Empire, shipping more grain than any other region.[5]
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Sexsmith had a population of 2,427 living in 853 of its 929 total private dwellings, a change of -7.4% from its 2016 population of 2,620. With a land area of 13.01 km2 (5.02 sq mi), it had a population density of 186.5/km2 (483.2/sq mi) in 2021.[2]
In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Sexsmith recorded a population of 2,620 living in 873 of its 937 total private dwellings, a change of 8.4% from its 2011 population of 2,418. With a land area of 13.24 km2 (5.11 sq mi), it had a population density of 197.9/km2 (512.5/sq mi) in 2016.[16]
Economy
Ovintiv owns an oil and natural gas liquid processing plant with a total capacity of 115,000 barrels per day, from wells drilled into the Montney Formation.[17]
^"Table 5: Population of urban centres, 1916-1946, with guide to locations". Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1946. Vol. I: Population. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1949. pp. 397–400.
^"Table 6: Population by sex, for census subdivisions, 1956 and 1951". Census of Canada, 1956. Vol. I: Population. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1958.
^"Table 9: Population by census subdivisions, 1966 by sex, and 1961". 1966 Census of Canada. Western Provinces. Vol. Population: Divisions and Subdivisions. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1967.
^"Table 3: Population for census divisions and subdivisions, 1971 and 1976". 1976 Census of Canada. Census Divisions and Subdivisions, Western Provinces and the Territories. Vol. Population: Geographic Distributions. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1977.
^"Table 2: Census Subdivisions in Alphabetical Order, Showing Population Rank, Canada, 1981". 1981 Census of Canada. Vol. Census subdivisions in decreasing population order. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1982. ISBN0-660-51563-6.
^"Table 2: Population and Dwelling Counts, for Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions, 1986 and 1991 – 100% Data". 91 Census. Vol. Population and Dwelling Counts – Census Divisions and Census Subdivisions. Ottawa: Statistics Canada. 1992. pp. 100–108. ISBN0-660-57115-3.
