Opal, Alberta

{{Use MDY dates|date=September 2021}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox settlement

|name = Opal

|other_name =

|native_name =

|nickname =

|settlement_type = Hamlet

|image_skyline =

|imagesize =

|image_caption =

|pushpin_relief = yes

|pushpin_map = Canada Alberta#Canada

|pushpin_label_position =

|pushpin_map_caption = Location of Opal

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = Canada

|subdivision_type1 = Province

|subdivision_name1 = Alberta

|subdivision_type2 = Region

|subdivision_name2 = Central Alberta

|subdivision_type3 = Census division

|subdivision_name3 = 13

|subdivision_type4 = Municipal district

|subdivision_name4 = Thorhild County

|government_footnotes =

|government_type = Unincorporated

|leader_title = Mayor

|leader_name = Jayce Cornelius

|leader_title1 = Governing body

|leader_name1 = Thorhild County Council

|established_title = Established

|established_date =

|established_title2 =

|established_date2 =

|established_title3 =

|established_date3 =

|area_footnotes =

|area_land_km2 =

|population_as_of = 2009

|population_footnotes = {{cite web | url=http://www.altapop.ca/popsums/2010/2010hamletsalpha.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926005728/http://www.altapop.ca/popsums/2010/2010hamletsalpha.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 26, 2021 | title=Alberta Population Summary: Alberta's Hamlets Alphabetically, 2010 | publisher=Alberta Population | access-date=September 25, 2021}}

|population_note =

|population_total = 24

|population_density_km2 =

|population_blank1_title =

|population_blank1 =

|timezone = MST

|utc_offset = −07:00

|timezone_DST = MDT

|utc_offset_DST = −06:00

|coordinates = {{coord|53|59|29|N|113|13|21|W|region:CA-AB|display=inline,title}}

|elevation_footnotes =

|elevation_m =

|postal_code_type = Postal code

|postal_code =

|area_code = 780, 587, 825

|blank_name = Highways

|blank_info =

|blank1_name = Waterways

|blank1_info =

|footnotes =

}}

Opal is a hamlet in central Alberta, Canada within Thorhild County.{{AltaML}} It is located {{convert|5|km}} north of Highway 28, approximately {{convert|53|km}} northeast of Edmonton. Originally named Rutherford after Alberta's first premier, Alexander Cameron Rutherford but was renamed to the unique "Opal" when the first post office opened on November 15, 1912.{{cite book |last=Thorhild and District Historical Society |title=Building and working together: a study of the Thorhild area. Vol. 1 |year=1985 |page=9 |url=https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/archive/Building-and-working-together---a-study-of-the-Thorhild-area--Vol--2-2R3BF1O1MWQF6.html |access-date=2023-08-14}}

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Opal had a Roman Catholic Church (built in 1915), grain elevator (built 1918 by the Gillespie Grain Company), general store,[https://searchprovincialarchives.alberta.ca/main-street-opal Main Street Opal] International Harvester Company dealership, hardware store, lumber yard, blacksmith, Massey-Harris dealership, meat market, hotel (built in 1938), community hall, pool hall, railway station and school. In November 1954 the Opal Church[https://www.cphsvirtualmuseum.com/opal.html Opal Church] was moved to Redwater.