The History of the Village of Innisfree

Alberta Canada

Formerly the communities of: •  Delnorte and •  Del Norte

Innisfree Alberta was settled in early 1900’s, the Puckette family built the first home and named the settlement "Delnorte". The word Delnorte has Spanish origins and was chosen by the youngest daughter of the Puckette family to symbolize "the North". After the railway was built in 1905, Delnorte became a trading center for the people as far away as the North Saskatchewan River.

Visited by Sir Byron Walker, President of the Bank of Commerce, who, in 1905, proposed a new bank if the name was changed to "Innisfree". The reason behind this was that Birch Lake, located just south of the community, reminded him of his summer home on the "Lake Isle of Innisfree" in Ireland. The prefabricated Bank of Commerce was built in 1906 followed by the villages incorporation as Innisfree in 1911.

From then on the Village began to expand and grow, boasting six elevators at one time, along with numerous shops, including a meat market, a drug store and even an ice cream parlor.  The area was also know for it's summertime resort, Birch Lake. This Lake and beach area were host to several important recreational events that drew crowds from all over the area.

Click here to read Puckette's account of Sir Byron's visit in his own words.

Memorable Moments In Innisfree History . World Renowned Innisfree Meteorite

The INNISFREE (Alberta) Meteorite
The meteorite landed 13 km north of the town of Innisfree Alberta Canada at 7.17 pm on February 5th, 1977.

An immediate search of the area by light plane and on foot, turned up nothing, but photographic records from two stations in the MORP network allowed a computer prediction of the most likely fall area.

Dr. Ian Halliday of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics led an N.R.C. sponsored party to search the area some eleven days later. Within a few hours the first and largest piece (2.07 kg) had been found only a few hundred yards from the point predicted by the computer program. Subsequently 5 other fragments were found, bringing the total mass recovered to 3.79 kg

Photo Credits

Header Photo - Joan Anderson

Meteorite - Unknown

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