Uranium City began as a mining town. After athabascaite was discovered near Lake Athabasca in 1949, the provincial government decided in 1952 to build a community to serve the uranium mines of the Beaverlodge area, which were developed by Eldorado Mining and Refining, a federal crown corporation. By 1954 the local paper, The Uranium Times, reported 52 mines operating, and most early homes were simply tents.
Rather than scatter small camps around the mine sites, the government chose a larger, centralized town with proper services, hoping to avoid the troubles of small mining towns in Northern Ontario. It modelled the place on Arvida, Quebec. In 1956 a provincial act created a chartered district with authority over education, health and welfare. Growth took off after 1960, when Eldorado deliberately moved its staff into town from the company campsite. Ben McIntyre, the first teacher, had opened a school in 1952 with 40 students.
The population peaked at 2,507 in 1981. When the mines closed in 1982, most residents left, and in 1983 the town's act was repealed, making Uranium City an unincorporated northern settlement. The hospital closed in 2003. Today there is no regular road link to the rest of Canada, so the airport, a winter road to Fond-du-Lac and Ben McIntyre School keep the community connected. Residents include Métis and First Nations people.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Uranium City” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.