 Smith was a prominent official in the Hudson's Bay Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway, that operated the Calgary and Edmonton Railway, the community's lifeline.The first mayor of Strathcona was Thomas Bennett.The town's original boundaries included all the numbered river lots between #9 and #17 south of the river, corresponding to the area from present-day 109 Street in the west to 97 Street in the east and south to University Avenue, an area of .