Fonds RG 19 - City of Red Deer, Community Services Division fonds

Red Deer became an unincorporated town in 1894, and a village in 1898, under the ordinances of the then Northwest Territories. It was incorporated as a town in 1901; and incorporated as a city in 1913. Red Deer depended upon private corporations and individuals for all recreational activities until 1945, when the Red Deer Recreation Athletic Association (later called the Red Deer Amateur Athletic Association) was established to promote sporting activities in the city and to lobby for municipal funding of programs. In 1951 the Red Deer Recreation Commission was established by the City of Red Deer and assumed the projects carried out by the Athletic Association. The commission was soon replaced by the Recreation Board, which became responsible for the management of the City of the Red Deer Recreation Department and its athletic and recreational programs and facilities. The name of the board and department was changed to the Recreation and Culture in 1983 as a result of adoption of a Recreation Master Plan of 1981. In 1985, the City underwent a reorganization of its administrative structures, and the Recreation and Culture Department, along with the Social Planning Department, became part of the Community Services Division. In early 1995 the Recreation and Culture Department merged with the Parks Department making it Recreation Parks and Culture Department. As of 2001, the Community Services Division is made up of the departments of Recreation, Parks and Culture, Social Planning, and Transit. In addition, the Division administers contracted-out services by the RCMP, Parkland Community Planning Services, the Visitor and Convention Bureau, the Normandeau Cultural and Natural History Society, the River Bend Golf Course and Recreation Society, and the Red Deer Public Library.