'' ( Elevation: 00 feet) is a town in
Alberta ,
Canada . It is located 101 km east of
Red Deer at the junction of
Highway 12 and
Highway 56 . The town is located in the eastern region of central Alberta and nicknamed "The Heart of Alberta."
Population: 5,226 (2002)
Stettler was founded in
1905 and was named after Swiss immigrant
Carl Stettler , who also founded a settlement east of the town at Blumenau, as well as being influential in the nearby community of
Castor .
The town has three schools in the Clearview School District:
- Stettler Elementary School
- Stettler Middle School
- William E. Hay Composite High School.
Stettler is also home to Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions, a popular attraction delivering rail tours to people from around the world.
The town also serves as a commercial hub for several smaller communities in the area, serving a population of approximately 30,000. Nearby communities include the villages of
Big Valley ,
Gadsby ,
Donalda , and
Halkirk , and the hamlets of
Byemoor ,
Endiang , and
Erskine , among others.
In
2005 Stettler celebrated its centennial along with the province of Alberta. Throughout July there were many celebrations.
Stettler was home to the last man to be
Hanged in Alberta. In
1959 , police discovered Raymond and Daisy May Cook and their five children shot and budgeoned to death in the garage of their Stettler home, marking the most gruesome mass murder in the province's history.
Evidence led police to the Cook's eldest son, Robert Raymond, who was released from prison only days before the crime.
Police took Cook into custody and he was sent to the
Ponoka Mental Institution for psychiatric evaluation.
He did not spend the night, however, escaping from the province's mental treatment facility, but was recaptured four days later following an extensive manhunt.
It took 18 months and two trials for Cook to be sentenced to death.
At midnight, on
November 14 ,
1960 , he was led from his cell in
Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta , to the execution chamber.
He was pronounced dead at 00:18, and would be the last person to be hanged in the province.
