Bad Heart, Alberta

Bad Heart
Settlement
Bad Heart is located in Alberta
Bad Heart
Bad Heart
Location of Bad Heart in Alberta
Coordinates: 55°29′46″N 118°16′57″W / 55.49611°N 118.28250°W / 55.49611; -118.28250
CountryCanada
ProvinceAlberta
RegionNorthern Alberta
Census divisionDivision No. 19, Alberta
CountyCounty of Grande Prairie No. 1
First settled1918
Recognized for federal mapsMarch 2, 1948
Area code780

Bad Heart (also recorded as Badheart) is a locality in northern Alberta, Canada, within the County of Grande Prairie No. 1. Connected by range roads to Alberta Highway 733, it is approximately 50 km (31 mi) northeast of Grande Prairie.

Toponymy

Bad Heart is named after the nearby Bad Heart River. The river's name, in turn, derives from a literal translation of the Cree words maatsiti ("wicked" or "bad heart") and missipi ("river").

History

Founding and early development: 1919–1929

Permanent settlement began in the area that became Bad Heart in 1919, after the federal government established the Soldier Settlement Board to provide land to returning veterans of the First World War.

The community developed slowly, owing to the site's unsuitability for arable farming. Plagued by dry weather and cut off from amenities by Bad Heart's remote location, some settlers foreclosed soon after arriving. Ranches and pastoral farms were more successful, sustaining the community's growth.

A log schoolhouse named Bad Heart School opened in 1928 to serve families in surrounding areas, followed by a post office in July 1929. Bad Heart School also functioned as a community hall that held dances and religious services.

Remaining 20th century: 1930–2000

On May 4, 1944, a wildfire rapidly spread from Webster to Bad Heart that would become known as the Moose Hill Wildfire or Bad Heart River Fire. Low snowfall the previous winter, coupled with a scarcity of firefighters due to the Second World War, allowed the fire to spread 15,000 hectares.

Bad Heart was recognized as a settlement for federal mapping purposes on March 2, 1948.

In 1949, the Bad Heart School burned down. The school district was subsequently divided into North and South Bad Heart, with a school building moved from the nearby Odin District to serve as the North Bad Heart School. Local volunteers built South Bad Heart School, on land purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company.

Bad Heart's straw church, photographed 1954.

Few other amenities were established in Bad Heart by early 1954, when Roman Catholic priest and trained architect Francis Dales decided the settlement required its own place of worship. Until this point, Bad Heart's residents travelled to religious services held in nearby Teepee Creek. Owing to the relative poverty of Bad Heart's residents, Dales fundraised enough to construct a church made from rye straw. Construction of the Immaculate Heart Church, popularly known as the Bad Heart Straw Church, began and ended that summer.

Bad Heart School closed in 1955, when all local schools were consolidated at Teepee Creek. The straw church ceased operations in 1960, six years after opening. In 1968, Bad Heart's post office also permanently closed.

The locality's straw church was refurbished in 1985.

21st century: 2001–present

The Bad Heart Straw Church was recognized as a provincial historic site by the Government of Alberta in 2009, then designated a municipal historic resource by Grande Prairie County the following year.

In June 2024, Grande Prairie County considered classifying Bad Heart itself as a "rural or historical settlement" that could eventually be marked by a commemorative plaque. The county's 2026 municipal development plan affirmed that Bad Heart is not expected to grow; the plan designated the area as a rural and agricultural settlement. Bad Heart's name is also used by the county to refer to surrounding unincorporated communities and their residents.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 South Peace Regional Archives (April 2022). "Fonds 089 North Badheart School District 4369 fonds". southpeacearchives.
  2. ↑ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (January 5, 2009). "SGC 2006 - 4819006 - Grande Prairie County No. 1". www23.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved October 21, 2026.
  3. ↑ Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada. "Place names - Bad Heart". geonames.nrcan.gc.ca. Retrieved October 17, 2026.
  4. ↑ Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada. "Point-to-point distance Bad Heart – Grande Prairie". geonames.nrcan.gc.ca. Retrieved October 17, 2026.
  5. 1 2 Alberta Culture (January 2025). "Bad Heart". Alberta Geographical Names Web Map. Select yellow circle. The post office of that name was established in July 1929 and closed in June 1968. It was named for the nearby river. The first postmaster was R.J. Magee. (See Bad Heart River.)
  6. ↑ Alberta Culture (January 2025). "Bad Heart River". Alberta Geographical Names Web Map. Select the name of the river.
  7. ↑ Aubrey, Merrily (2006). Concise Place Names of Alberta. University of Calgary Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-55238-210-3.
  8. ↑ Karamitsanis, Aphrodite; Harrison, Tracey; Aubrey, Merrily K. (1991). Place Names of Alberta. University of Calgary Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-919813-91-5.
  9. ↑ Jones, Cyril Meredith (June 1, 2000). "Indian, Pseudo-Indian Place Names in the Canadian West". Onomastica Canadiana. 82 (1): 9–20. ISSN 2816-7015.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Leonard, David (December 15, 2011). "Bad Heart Straw Church". RETROactive.
  11. ↑ History and Heritage. "1898 to 1945". County of Grande Prairie.
  12. ↑ Leonard, David W. (September 2020). "Sexsmith, Grain Capital of the British Empire A History to 1960" (PDF). Peace Country Historical Society Newsletter. 10 (3): 6–9 – via Peace Country Historical Society.
  13. 1 2 3 MDSR (June 10, 2026). "Discover Bad Heart Straw Church". Municipal District of Spirit River #133.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Rycroft, Jean Fraser; Thibault, Margaret Fraser; Society, Sexsmith to the Smoky Historical (1980). Wagon Trails Grown Over: Sexsmith to the Smoky. Sexsmith to the Smoky Historical Society. pp. 19–21, 25. ISBN 978-0-88925-101-4.
  15. 1 2 Canada, Library and Archives (November 25, 2016). "Bad Heart Archives / Post Offices and Postmasters". recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved October 17, 2026.
  16. ↑ Watson, John (November 7, 2019). "Two teenage firefighters killed in 1944 bush fire honoured with memorial". Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune.
  17. 1 2 Tymstra, Cordy (August 16, 2015). The Chinchaga Firestorm: When the Moon and Sun Turned Blue. University of Alberta. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-77212-015-8.
  18. 1 2 Murphy, Peter John; Development, Alberta Alberta Sustainable Resource (2006). The Alberta Forest Service, 1930-2005: Protection and Management of Alberta's Forests. Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. pp. 356–357. ISBN 978-0-7785-4519-4.
  19. 1 2 "Bylaw No. 2887 Designating Immaculate Heart Church Bad Heart as a Municipal Historic Resource". County of Grande Prairie. Retrieved October 21, 2026.
  20. ↑ South Peace Regional Archives. "Fonds 507 South Peace Regional Archives Library collection". southpeacearchives.
  21. ↑ County of Grande Prairie (June 2024). Hamlet Resilience Strategy (PDF). Grande Prairie: County of Grande Prairie No. 1. pp. 8, 24.
  22. 1 2 County of Grande Prairie. "Municipal Development Plan 2026" (PDF). countygp. p. 16, 31.