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Armstrong, British Columbia, incorporated as a city in 1913, population 5,323 (2021 census), 5,114 (2016 census). The City of Armstrong is the business centre of a farm and forest economy of the Spallumcheen district. It is at the north end of the Okanagan Valley 23 km North of Vernon and 13 km South of Enderby.
History
The district was first settled in 1866 by A.L. Fortune and J.B. Burns in Lansdowne, the original townsite. When the Shuswap and Okanagan Railway line was extended South to Okanagan Landing (1891–92) the townsite moved to its present location. The town was named for London financier William Charles Heaton-Armstrong, who raised the bonds for the railway project.
Catherine Schubert, the only woman member of the Overlanders of 1862, lived in the district from 1883.
Present Day
Armstrong was once known as "Celery City" (see Celery). It has since diversified from grain, livestock and dairy products (from 1938 it has been home of the famous "Armstrong" cheese) to light manufacturing and, since a forest company constructed a mill near town in 1975, lumber and plywood (see Lumber and Wood Industries).
The Armstrong fall fair, started in 1900, has become western Canada's largest grade B livestock exposition.
