Erskine is located approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of Stettler, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Rochon Sands and 64 kilometres (40 mi) east of Red Deer. It was established in 1905 and named after British jurist Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine (1750–1823).
History
Erskine was home to one of the worst mass slayings in Alberta when Social CreditStettler representative John Clark murdered seven people before committing suicide on June 3, 1956.[4]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Erskine had a population of 319 living in 136 of its 140 total private dwellings, a change of 13.1% from its 2016 population of 282. With a land area of 0.86 km2 (0.33 sq mi), it had a population density of 370.9/km2 (960.7/sq mi) in 2021.[1]
As a designated place in the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Erskine had a population of 282 living in 122 of its 134 total private dwellings, a change of -2.8% from its 2011 population of 290. With a land area of 0.86 km2 (0.33 sq mi), it had a population density of 327.9/km2 (849.3/sq mi) in 2016.[5]
^"Table 6a: Population by census divisions and subdivisions showing reorganization of rural areas, 1931-1946". Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1946. Vol. I: Population. Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics. 1949. p. 422.
^Colin MacDonald (June 5, 1956). "Body Alberta MLA Found Lying In Slough". Vol XLIX No 148. The Lethbridge Herald. p. 1.
