Background
Kenny Blatchford was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba.
Kenny Blatchford was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba.
He was educated at a commercial college, and was an excellent wrestler and all-around athlete as a youth.
During the Klondike Gold Rush, he took over operation of the grist mill operated by Daniel Fraser, and later worked in the Edmonton Power Plant. Blatchford first sought public office in the 1921 municipal election, when he was elected to Edmonton City Council for a one year term as an alderman, finishing fifth out of seventeen candidates. He was re-elected, this time to a two year term, in the 1922 election, in which he finished third of sixteen candidates.
He resigned midway through his term to run for mayor in the 1923 election, in which he handily defeated James Ramsey.
He was re-elected with relative ease in the 1924 and 1925 elections, and did not seek re-election thereafter. As mayor, Blatchford convinced the city to purchase a farm to establish an "air harbour", which would later become the Edmonton City Centre (Blatchford Field) Airport.
After his federal political career faltered, Blatchford attempted a return to municipal office by running for mayor in the 1932 election. However, he finished a distant third of three candidates, behind incumbent Daniel Kennedy Knott and perennial candidate (and former and future mayor) Joseph Clarke.
While still mayor, Blatchford ran for the Canadian House of Commons in the 1926 election as a Liberal in Edmonton East.
He served until 1930, when he was defeated by Bury (who had gone on to succeed Blatchford as mayor of Edmonton) in that year"s election. Five months after his defeat in the 1932 mayoral election, Blatchford suffered a nervous breakdown and disappeared. His body was found in the North Saskatchewan River on April 22, 1933 after he had been missing for two days.
His death was ruled a suicide.
Blatchford Field, location of the Edmonton City Centre Airport or ECCA, is named after Kenny Blatchford.
He defeated incumbent Conservative Member of Parliament Ambrose Bury by fewer than two hundred votes.