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Overview Establishment People and Events Legacy

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Fort Edmonton was Robert Rundle's first mission post and his task there was to be chaplain to the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) as well as to the Aboriginal people of the area. He also taught a wide variety of children, instruction that included English and Cree language studies. 

In practice, all HBC employees were Christian (either Anglican or Catholic) and, as a Methodist, Rundle had few allies. Nevertheless, his mission added tremendously to the life at the fort. 

After Rundle's departure, Roman Catholic Fr. Jean Baptiste Thibeault, (although not invited), happily filled the vacancy-so much so, in fact, that by the time the next Methodist missionary, Thomas Woolsey, arrived in 1855 there was little room for his ministry. Consequently, when George McDougall established a missionary post and church outside of the walls of Fort Edmonton, it served as the headquarters of the Methodist mission district for many years.

  Ethnic Roots: Francophones Prominence in Edmonton
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Today at Historic Fort Edmonton one can visit a replica of Robert Rundle's chapel and a restoration of the church built by George McDougall 1873.


 

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