Description
Newspaperman and politician Frank Oliver (1853-1933) brought the first printing press to Edmonton and co-founded the
Edmonton Bulletin in 1880. Oliver came to Edmonton in 1876 and went on to formulate much of the early legislation in the
North-West Territories.
He was born in Ontario and attended high school in Brampton where he apprenticed at a local weekly newspaper. It was
during this time that he dropped his original last name, Bowsfield, in favour of his mother’s maiden name, Oliver. The
name change apparently followed a disagreement between Oliver and his father over his plans to enter the printing trade.
Oliver later worked in the composing room of the Toronto Globe before coming west in 1873, where he was employed at the
Manitoba Free Press and the Winnipeg Journal. In 1876 he moved still further west to Edmonton, then only a small village
controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company.
After a telegraph line to Edmonton was established, bringing regular news from the rest of the country, Oliver went into
partnership with the telegraph operator, Alex Taylor, and founded the Edmonton Bulletin. It was only the second
newspaper on the prairies, the first being the Herald in Battleford, Saskatchewan. The first two-page edition of the
Bulletin was published on December 6, 1880. In the paper’s editorials, Oliver was an outspoken and sometimes fiery
supporter of the west. He lobbied for elected representation, protection of settler land rights and the building of
schools. Between 1883 and 1885 he was a member of the Regina-based North-West Territories Council; he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories (which succeeded the council) and served from 1888 to 1896.
Under Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Oliver became the province of Alberta’s first member of parliament in
1905. He sat in the House of Commons from 1896 to 1917, and was minister of the Interior and superintendent general of
Indian Affairs from 1905 to 1911.
Feature Type
Neighbourhood
Designation Year
CU
Additional Resources
Uncover Oliver: “An Indigenous-led collaborative effort between Oliver residents and the Oliver Community League, the #UncoverOliver campaign is designed to bring the community together under the excitement of uncovering who we are. We wish to lead a discussion on how we should name ourselves now and into the future.”
Frank Oliver and Infantile Edmonton: An article from the Edmonton City as a Museum Project written by Rob Houle.