Nestled along Highway 22, also known as the Cowboy Trail, the community that was once the Town of Turner Valley sits approximately 60 kilometres southwest of Calgary and just 3 kilometres west of Black Diamond. The area takes its name from Robert and John Turner, two brothers who settled here in 1886, and it eventually grew into one of the most historically significant energy-producing communities in Canada. On January 1, 2023, Turner Valley amalgamated with neighbouring Black Diamond to form the newly incorporated Town of Diamond Valley, following a provincial Order in Council issued by Alberta on May 25, 2022. The merger had been a topic of discussion for decades, with a 2007 plebiscite seeing Turner Valley residents support amalgamation while Black Diamond residents voted against it. Ultimately, the potential for administrative efficiencies and projected cost savings of roughly one million dollars annually helped push the amalgamation forward without a second public vote.
Turner Valley first incorporated as a village on February 23, 1930, and later became a town on September 1, 1977, a status it held for nearly 46 years before the merger with Black Diamond. The community earned its place in Canadian history as the heart of a major oil and natural gas boom, with the Turner Valley oilfields serving as the largest producer of oil and gas in the entire British Empire for a period of three decades. The story began on May 14, 1914, when drilling expert Archibald Dingman, recruited from Pennsylvania by rancher W. Stewart Herron, struck wet natural gas capable of producing gasoline. Herron had gathered investors including notable figures such as James Lougheed, R.B. Bennett, and A.E. Cross to fund the venture. After fire destroyed the main buildings in 1920 and Herron’s group could not afford to rebuild, Imperial Oil purchased Calgary Petroleum Products, established a subsidiary called Royalite Oil Co., and rebuilt the facility. The Turner Valley Gas Plant continued operating until 1985 and has since been designated a provincial historic site. With backing from the Turner Valley Oilfield Society and the Alberta government, significant restoration work has been undertaken at the site, with an estimated 20 million dollars already invested and a further 20 million dollars anticipated to return the plant to operational condition. A centennial celebration marking 100 years since the original oil discovery drew more than 2,000 attendees on May 14, 2014.