Stratford, Prince Edward Island
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Stratford is a small Canadian town in Prince Edward Island (2001 population 6,314), making it the province's third-largest community. It is currently experiencing a 7.6% rate of growth in population as a result of an improved highway connection to neighbouring Charlottetown.
Stratford was created in a 1996 amalgamation of several rural villages and communities east of the provincial capital of Charlottetown, including:
Located on the opposite bank of the East (Hillsborough) River (a 30 km long and 1 km wide tidal inlet) from Charlottetown, the communities comprising Stratford were hampered in their development by geography until relatively recently.
During the 1800s, a small seasonal passenger ferry service operated between Ferry Point in Southport to a wharf on the Charlottetown waterfront. During the winter months, horse-drawn sleighs would operate directly across the river, if its waters were frozen. In the early 1900s, the Prince Edward Island Railway installed a used iron railway bridge between Charlottetown and Bunbury, which had previously spanned the Southwest Branch of the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. This development saw trains operating between Charlottetown and Murray Harbour, however horse-drawn carriages and sleighs (and later automobiles) were permitted on the span when trains were not operating, although it was only 1-lane wide with wood planks placed between the rails. By the 1950s, trains had abandoned the bridge in favour of another route and the bridge was close to being condemned several times before a new 2-lane highway bridge was built parallel to the railway bridge in the early 1960s as part of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Following completion of the new bridge, the communities comprising present-day Stratford began to experience a slow but steady growth, with permanent year-round dwellings beginning to replace the seasonal cottages which fronted the Hillsborough River. By the 1980s, it became apparent that the traffic levels on the new 2-lane Hillsborough River Bridge were surpassing its designed capacity. In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed an agreement which saw a "Fixed Link" built between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick; in a related sub-contract, the two governments agreed to have the prime contractor for the Fixed Link (today named Confederation Bridge) construct an expanded 4-lane Hillsborough River Bridge. The expanded Hillsborough River Bridge was completed in the mid-1990s at around the same time as municipal amalgamation took place.
The current town of Stratford is experiencing growth as a result of the improved highway connection to Charlottetown, where most residents work. Such growth is quite modest by most North American standards and includes several new subdivisions, a new highway commercial district, and several municipal buildings including a town hall and community centre.