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Not much known about town's first mayor

Most of the life of Okotoks’ first mayor remains a mystery. Frederick Stockton, came to town in 1902 as one of the first medical doctors to serve Okotoks and area, became the town’s first mayor when it was incorporated in 1904.
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Frederick Stockton was one of the first medical doctors to practice in Okotoks, and became the town’s first mayor when it incorporated in 1904.

Most of the life of Okotoks’ first mayor remains a mystery. Frederick Stockton, came to town in 1902 as one of the first medical doctors to serve Okotoks and area, became the town’s first mayor when it was incorporated in 1904. Early in 1904 the village, as it was at the time, voted to become a town. Okotoks became the first town incorporated between Calgary and Fort Macleod, which also made Stockton the first mayor in the region as well, said museum specialist Kathy Coutts. “He was clearly well-respected in the community to become the town’s first mayor,” she said. He served only one term, and at the time the terms for mayors were only one year, she said. His influence in town was enough to see streets in Okotoks’ business park named after him – Stockton Avenue, which connects North Railway Street to 32 Street (where Home Hardware and the bottle depot are located) and Stockton Point, which houses Southland Transportation and the Okotoks Food Bank, among other businesses.   The current home of the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce is also named after him. The brick and sandstone building, located on McRae Street, is called the Stockton Block. “He financed the building of the Stockton Block, and that’s where he had his medical practice,” said Coutts. “Also in that building was the Union Bank, a drug store, residences on the second floor and a few other professional offices.” The building was constructed in 1903 and has served many uses. It was Okotoks Town Hall twice, once leased from the Royal Bank from 1946 to 1954. In 1974, the Town purchased Stockton Block from the Royal Bank and its offices were located there until the current Municipal Centre was opened in spring 2008. Stockton left Okotoks in 1914 to study pediatric medicine in England and then returned to Calgary, where he died in 1927. But there is nothing else of him in the Town’s archives. However, something is known about a branch of the extended family. Coutts said Stockton’s brother, John Wesley, lived in town with his wife Agnes, at least through the early 1900s. Their son, Archibald (Archie), was killed in the First World War. “He was one of the local boys who enlisted and paid the supreme sacrifice,” said Coutts. “The streets may not be named after Archie Stockton, but he was certainly part of the family and part of Okotoks’ history.” According to an obituary in the Okotoks Review from 1918, Archie was wounded in October 1917 and returned to the trenches in February 1918. Two weeks later, on March 6, 1918, he died in battle at age 23 and was buried in France.

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