History
People began to settle in the river valley in the late 19th century, and by 1884, the population was about 250. The next year, many of the families had moved to the prairie level, with more leaving after serious floods in 1902 and 1908. The area was subdivided in 1912, and 83 families settled in the community, which was called Riverside, by the early 1950s. After a serious flood in 1953, Lethbridge City Council moved all the families out of the valley and designated it as parkland recreation.
Indian Battle Park had been created by 1960, and the Lethbridge Nature Reserve was established near Indian Battle Park in the mid-1970s. The Lethbridge Naturalists Society and Public School Board built a nature centre in 1980, which was formally opened in 1982 as the Helen Schuler Coulee Centre. This name was changed to the Helen Schuler Nature Centre in 2009.
Beginning in 1981, the City of Lethbridge purchased new parkland using funds from Urban Parks for the Future, a project run by the provincial government and funded by the Heritage Trust Fund. Such parks include: Pavan Park, Alexander Wilderness Park, Peenaquim Park, Lethbridge Nature Reserve and Elizabeth Hall Wetlands, Indian Battle Park, Bull Trail Park, Botterill Bottom Park, and Popson Park.
Read more about this topic: Oldman River Valley Parks System
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