The history of the University of Alberta (U of A) is unique in the story of the development of the communities of Edmonton, because although it is inextricably tied to the story of the city, the U of A is its own entity as a provincial and educational enterprise.

Largely through the efforts of Alberta’s first premier, Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the U of A was established as an act of the first legislative assembly of Alberta in 1906 and began operations in September 1908 out of Queen Alexandra School just off Whyte Avenue. Edmonton had recently been declared the provincial capital, the location for the U of A was chosen to be in Rutherford’s own constituency of the new city of Strathcona.