The MHDGS is proud to be undertaking the monumental task of digitizing phone books to preserve the history of our area. We hope these records serve as useful and interesting resources for anyone who views them!
Check out our History of telephones in Alberta and the Telephone Book Project by Medicine Hat and District Genealogical Society for more information about this project!
Donations
Phase V has been completed with finishing of the Yellow Pages, but there’s still work to do! Your donations to the Digitization Project Committee help make this project possible.
If you’re interested in making a donation, visit our Donors page for more information.
Browse our records
To search for a name or business: click on the area, followed by the date of book and then use Ctrl+F (or Command+F on Mac) to search by keyword. Listings in a town or city are alphabetical and districts are listed by towns.
All rights reserved. These digital copies of the Alberta Telephone Directories is the sole ownership of the Medicine Hat Genealogical Society and any unauthorized reproduction in whole or part is prohibited. All information presented is for your personal use only.
- Airdrie & District 1982-2001
- Athabasca & Area 1971-1986
- Athabasca & Area 1987-2000
- Alberta South & Central 1908-1949
- Alberta Southern District 1915-1967
- Banff & District 1967-2001
- Barrhead Area 1981-2000
- Bonnyville Area 1971-1992
- Bonnyville Area 1993-2000
- Brooks Area 1968-2000
- City of Calgary 1903-1953
- City of Calgary 1954-1978
- City of Calgary 1979-1990
- City of Calgary 1991-1999
- City of Calgary 2000-2003
- City of Calgary 2004-2007
- Calgary District 1950-2007
- Calgary Rurals 1911-1932
- Calgary Yellow Pages 1920-1949
- Calgary Yellow Pages 1950-1969
- Calgary Yellow Pages 1979-1980
- Camrose & Area 1971-1989
- Camrose & Area 1990-2001
- Central Alberta District 1960-1984
- Crowsnest Pass Area 1979-2001
- Drayton Valley & District 1971-2001
- Drumheller Area 1957-2000
- Edmonton City 1895-1968
- Edmonton City 1969-1980
- Edmonton City 1981-1990
- Edmonton City 1991-1995
- Edmonton City 1996-2001
- Edmonton District 1925-1980
- Edmonton District 1981-2001
- Edmonton Rurals 1926-1962
- Edmonton Yellow Pages 1925-1965
- Edmonton Yellow Pages 1966-1973
- Edmonton Yellow Pages 1974-1980
- Edmonton Asian Pages 1994-1996
- Edson District 1971-1980
- Fort McMurray 1978-2017
- Fort McMurray Yellow Pages 1979-2017
- Fort Saskatchewan Area 1971-2001
- High River & District 1982-2001
- Lethbridge City 1904-2001
- Lethbridge District 1918-2001
- Lethbridge & District Yellow Pages 1920-1986
- Lethbridge & District Yellow Pages 1987-2001
- Lloydminster District 1971-1993
- Medicine Hat City 1907-2010
- Medicine Hat District 1917-2010
- Medicine Hat Yellow Pages 1920-1984
- Medicine Hat Yellow Pages 1985-2010
- Northern District of Alberta 1959-1980
- Peace River & Grande Prairie District 1923-2005
- Peace River & Grande Prairie District Yellow Pages 1955-2001
- Red Deer & District 1917-2000
- Sherwood Park & District 1981-2015
- St Albert Area & District 1981-2001
- Spruce Grove 1981-2001
- Stony Plain 1981-2001
- Supplementary Directories
A brief history…
Mutual Telephone Companies in Alberta 1935 to 1974
Telephones were introduced in Alberta in 1885 and began to spread across the province after the Bell Telephone Company established itself in Calgary in 1887. Bell refused to extend services to rural areas believing them to be unprofitable. Consequently, the provincial government of Alberta began to build rural telephone lines in 1907 and, in the following year, took over Bell’s provincial infrastructure and established a department that would become Alberta Government Telephones (AGT).
In 1908, telephone lines were extended to other towns and villages near Calgary. Central offices and switchboards were set up in local offices in the villages. The central offices and rural districts were operated by the government until 1932 when the rural telephone lines were turned over to local mutual telephone companies (MTCs).
During the 1930s, AGT had difficulty maintaining its infrastructure due to falling revenues exacerbated by unpaid bills. In 1932 devastating weather destroyed much of the rural phone systems and AGT did not want to rebuild due to the costs. These co-operative organizations, under which local residents built local telephone networks connected to the main government network. AGT began divesting itself of its rural networks by handing them over to the mutual telephone companies. By the end of 1936, 600 MTCs had been formed, which increased to over 1,000 by the early 1960s.
By 1974 the MTC’s could not afford to pay for the modern telephone exchanges and AGT purchased all the MTC’s and the rural upgrade of telephone lines and exchanges began. The rural party lines, consisting of up twenty subscribers per line, were replaced with the four party systems. Underground cabling and modern central offices have resulted in private lines to every subscriber in Alberta.
