Village of Cowley

Village of Cowley

Population: 209  (2016)

Early 20th century photographs on the wall of the village office show Cowley to be a blossoming settlement whose wood-frame commercial buildings, rail-side grain elevators and buzzing sawmills anticipated a prosperous future. As with many pioneer towns, economic times changed and Cowley’s fortunes faded.

Cowley is blooming again. Petunias hang from its new community gazebo. There has been a recent influx of young, working families who value its low-traffic and crime-free streets and see the community as a tranquil residential satellite community of the Town of Pincher Creek.

So pronounced is the community’s revival that Cowley's village council made construction of a new playground a priority infrastructure project, responding to the increase in its pre-high school population to a full quarter of its 209 residents.

Just to the south of Cowley are the elegant turbines of the famous Cowley Ridge wind power site, the first installation of a now thriving southern Alberta wind energy industry.

Click here to visit the Village of Cowley website

Village Office Contact Information:
p: 1.403.628.3808
e: vilocow@shaw.ca


Mailing Address:
Village of Cowley
PO Box 40
Cowley, AB
T0K 0P0

Interesting Tidbits

  • Cowley's grass airstrip was designated in 1997 by the Soaring Council of Canada as Canada's first "National Soaring Site". The “Cowley Wave” rolling over the front range of the Rocky Mountains lifts sailplanes to record-making altitudes. Pilots still attach their gliders to the steel cables used in the early days of commercial aviation to tie down low-altitude airliners waiting out bad weather over The Rockies.
  • The movie Brokeback Mountain featured Cowley as the fictional town of Signal, Wyoming. Scenes from the 2005 film shot in southwestern Alberta sparked an increase in tourism—in Wyoming.

Village of Cowley Links

Downloads
pdf
Cowley-Political-and-Economic-Profile-2021
Cowley-Political-and-Economic-Profile-2021.pdf [292 KB]
Last Changed: Jun 24, 2021 01:43pm