The Imperial Oil company built an oil town which would be known as Devon, named after the Devonian oil producing formation. The site for Devon was a field overlooking the North Saskatchewan River. The 120-acre (48.5 hectare) field, owned by Frank and John Sank, became the original town site.
The houses were built for different levels of wage earners. Imperial Oil then installed water, sewer and natural gas systems on the town-site and with the co-operation of the Alberta government. Devon was also the first community in the country to be labelled "Canada's Model Town."
Al Dingman was the first settler, moving with his family to a home on Saskatchewan Avenue. Dick Yee, an Edmonton restaurant man, was the first businessman in the area. He operated a tarpaper shack from which waitresses served food to hungry roughnecks and construction workers. In the fall of 1949, the Yee shack which had earned the nickname of the "The Bucket of Blood," was replaced with a modern restaurant known as "The Pagoda." George Thompson, one of the first residents, was elected mayor of the town. On March 1, 1950, Devon officially became a town and a special school district was formed on June 1, 1950.
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