Coaldale, Alta, Town, pop 6177 (2006c), 6008 (2001c), inc 1952. Shortly after the construction of the CPR line through southern Alberta in the mid-1890s, the railway company named its first rail siding 15 km E of LETHBRIDGE, Coaldale. The name came from Coaldale Home, the residence of Elliot T. Galt, a prominent figure in Lethbridge's early coal mining industry, rail interests and land development.

However, irrigation farming on the shortgrass prairie, rather than coal mining, has been the dominant economic activity of the Coaldale area. An irrigation company owned by Galt brought water and promised rich grain yields to prospective settlers shortly after the turn of the century. While many of these first farmers came from the US, following WWI a veteran resettlement scheme drew former soldiers from many countries to the wheatlands. This settlement was followed by the MENNONITES starting in the mid-1920s, uprooted JAPANESE CANADIANS from BC during WWII, and DUTCH in the 1960s. The town today is a service centre for surrounding agriculture and a commuter community for Lethbridge.