The City of Cold Lake has a rich history, from the First Nation and Métis cultures to the settlers and their families who made their lives in northeast Alberta.

In 1980, the Historical Society of Cold Lake and District published a hardcover book of the recollections and stories of these settlers called, Treasured Scales of the Kinosoo. A tourist boom in Cold Lake occurred between 1920 and 1930. While there were many influential people who shaped Cold Lake during this time, a few stand out as promoters of fishing and tourism in the north.

In 1920, Jim Hoolahan had moved to the Lakeland and believed that Cold Lake had the potential for tourism. Next to the lakeshore, he built half a dozen six-story units for guests and additional buildings for his family. With the buildings in place, he began promoting the area by producing Cold Lake Beach pennants and postcards. The images featured illustrated fish, such as a northern pike stretched across the length of a Model T car, ready to be hauled home by a tourist or a boat being swamped by monster-sized fish.

It worked and the tourists came on promises of being able to hook 50-plus-pound trout. Among these tourists was a lady known to us only as Mrs. Erickson. Her first name remains unknown, for at the time it was not recorded. In 1929, she reeled in a massive lake trout, weighing 52 pounds and 8 ounces, breaking the record for the largest lake trout in all of Alberta. Ninety years later, this record has yet to be broken. Many people still come to the lake from out of town to fish, as the area is a popular hunting and fishing spot.

Construction on Canadian Air Force Base Cold Lake began in 1952 and, together with the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range to the north, solidified the area’s reputation as “Fighter Town Canada.” The base is now home to two fighter squadrons, as well as training squadrons where Canada’s future fighter pilots hone their skills.

Exploration in the Cold Lake oil sands would eventually bring people to work in the oil fields from across Canada. It was also part of Canada’s first steps into tapping the massive resource the oil sands hold; in 1980, one plant by Cold Lake was one of only two under construction in Canada’s oil sands.

Cold Lake’s history can be discovered at the Cold Lake Museums, which are housed in a former Cold War radar station atop the aptly named “Radar Hill.”