Alberta learned to drive on the farm.
When the Alberta Motor Association formed on Nov. 30, 1926, the province’s cars were already parked beside barns and grain bins across the prairie, bought by families who needed to get to town faster than a team could manage, and who had decided, in the practical way farm families decide most things, that a machine which did not need feeding in winter was worth the money. The Alberta Motor Association centennial exhibit opens in Edmonton on Sept. 26, and it is worth remembering whose driveways that century started in.
Key facts
- The Alberta Motor Association was formed on Nov. 30, 1926, and today reports more than one million members (Alberta Motor Association).
- The Canada Year Book recorded 65,590 registered motor vehicles in Alberta in 1926 and 94,727 in 1931 (Canada Year Book, Dominion Bureau of Statistics).
- The 1931 Census of Canada counted 97,408 farms in Alberta (Statistics Canada).
- The Alberta Motor Association centennial exhibit runs free of charge at The Creative Hive in Edmonton from Sept. 26 to Nov. 8, 2026, and again from Jan. 9 to 24, 2027 (Alberta Motor Association).
How many Alberta farm families owned a car by 1931
The Nose Creek Valley Museum counts 27,419 automobiles on Alberta farms in 1926 and 41,025 in 1931. The 1931 census counted 97,408 farms. Put those side by side and roughly four farms in ten had a car by 1931. That is our arithmetic, across two different sources, one a local museum and one the census, so treat it as a rough measure and not a census result.
Rough or not, it tells you where the demand came from. Across the whole province, registered vehicles went from 38,015 in 1920 to 65,590 in 1926, according to the Canada Year Book. Farms were a large share of that climb.
The tractor followed the car into the yard. Federal figures show 9,215 tractors on Alberta farms in 1921 and 23,985 in 1931, along with 7,319 farm trucks by that later year. The horse did not vanish in a decade. It started to become a choice.
What the roads looked like when the AMA began
The law got there first, as it usually does. The legislature passed An Act to regulate the Speed and Operation of Motor Vehicles on Highways in 1906, the year after Alberta became a province. The first automobile in the province is usually credited to Billy Cochrane, whose Locomobile arrived in 1901 or 1902, depending on the account you trust.
Roads came slower. A club of drivers had every reason to organize, because the people who used the roads most were the ones who knew exactly where they failed. Alberta also became the first province to tax gasoline, at two cents a gallon, which makes this fall’s pause at the pump part of a very old argument about who pays for the road.
Where to see the AMA centennial exhibit
The exhibit runs at The Creative Hive in Edmonton from Sept. 26 to Nov. 8, and returns from Jan. 9 to 24, 2027. Admission is free. It then moves to the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin from May 22, 2027, to Oct. 9, 2028, which is the right home for it, surrounded by the machines themselves.
Take a grandparent. Plenty of them grew up hearing whose family had the first car on the road, and what the neighbours said about it.
An organization with more than a million members began as a club of drivers in a province still working out where its roads should go. The roads came because people used them first and asked for them second, and that is still the honest order for any public work.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Alberta Motor Association founded?
The Alberta Motor Association was formed on November 30, 1926, and today reports more than one million members.
Where is the AMA centennial exhibit and is it free?
The exhibit runs free of charge at The Creative Hive in Edmonton from September 26 to November 8, 2026, and again from January 9 to 24, 2027, according to the Alberta Motor Association.
How many Alberta farm families owned a car by 1931?
The Nose Creek Valley Museum counts 27,419 automobiles on Alberta farms in 1926 and 41,025 in 1931. The 1931 census counted 97,408 farms. Put side by side, roughly four farms in ten had a car by 1931. That is rough arithmetic across two different sources, so treat it as a measure and not a census result.
How many motor vehicles were registered in Alberta in 1926?
The Canada Year Book recorded 65,590 registered motor vehicles in Alberta in 1926 and 94,727 in 1931. In 1920 the province had only 38,015.
When did Alberta get its first motor vehicle law?
In 1906, the year after Alberta became a province, the legislature passed An Act to regulate the Speed and Operation of Motor Vehicles on Highways. The first automobile in the province is usually credited to Billy Cochrane, whose Locomobile arrived in 1901 or 1902, depending on the account you trust.
