municipal projects above was the city playing host to the 7th International Dry-Farming Congress in 1912. As recently as 1911, the city had no facilities to host an event of this significance. By the time the event arrived in October, the city had spent $1.35 million paving downtown streets, putting in cement sidewalks, improving the water and sewer systems, building a street railcar system, creating Henderson Park and setting aside for the Exhibition Grounds. Despite the event attracting thousands of delegates from throughout Canada and such places as China, Italy, and India, the city's tax base of only 8,000 could not support those improvements. The city carried the debt for decades after. Even so, the Lethbridge Herald labelled the event as "the greatest week in the history of the city". Between World War I and World War II, the city experienced an economic slump. Development slowed, drought drove farmers from their farms and coal mining rapidly declined from its peak before 1920. Following WWII, irrigation in the surrounding area caused the city's population to swell, which in turn boosted the local economy. Lethbridge Community College (now Lethbridge College) opened in April 1957, and the University of Lethbridge in 1967. Names Before settlement, the area where Lethbridge is located was known as The Arid Region. After geological surveys around 1880 revealed an abundance of coal, it became called The Belly River Coal District. After the Galts introduced irrigation to counter the Arid Region problems around 1900, the locality became called the Irrigated District. Finally, as an aid to land sales after the rush of dryland settlement started about 1905, the non-irrigable portion was called The Winter Wheat Lands. Other names the area was known by are as follows: Blackfoot Aksaysim, also transliterated as Aksiiksahko or Steep Banks Mek-kio-towaghs, also Miiksskoowa, variously translated as Painted Rock, Red Painted Rock, or Medicine Stone Assini-etomochi, also Asinaawaiitomottsaawa, or Where We Slaughtered the Crees Sik-ooh-kotok, Black/Rocks or Coal Sarcee Chadish-kashi, Black/Rocks Cree Kuskusukisay-guni, Black/Rocks Stony Ipubin-saba-akabin, or Digging Coal English Coal Banks Sherans, or Sheran's Ferry The Crossing The Colliery Newlethbridge Lethbridge Colliery Upper and Lower Town Coalhurst Riverside Since October 15, 1885, the name Lethbridge has been the official term. The name Lethbridge was in common unofficial use for the river bottom community at least as early as May 1884. See also History of Alberta Notes