Okotoks (/ˈoʊkətoʊks/ OH-kə-tohks, originally /ˈɒkətɒks/ OK-ə-toks) is a town in the Calgary Region of Alberta, Canada.

[12] Before European settlement, journeying First Nations, members of the Blackfoot Confederacy, used the rock as a marker to find the river crossing situated at Okotoks.

The last stagecoach stopped in Okotoks in 1891 when rail service between Calgary and Fort Macleod replaced horse-drawn travel.

[22] Numerous old buildings have been restored, and one house was even resited[23] blocks away to avoid destruction by the widening of the highway through the townsite.

Effective 1 July 2017, the Government of Alberta approved the annexation of approximately 1,950 ha (4,800 acres) of land.

Okotoks and the Municipal District of Foothills reached an agreement more than three years after the town first issued its notice of intent to seek more land to accommodate its long-term growth plans.

Okotoks will gain a 60-year land supply that will enable the Town to develop housing and other services over the next several decades.

In September 1998, Okotoks became one of the first communities in Canada to recognize its environmental limits to growth were restricted by the carrying capacity of the local watershed.

In concern for the supply of water, the town announced a unique and controversial suggestion of capping its population at 25,000 residents.

[25] In an interview on The Current, Mayor Bill McAlpine stated that this objective may be politically difficult due to the surrounding region.

[26] Okotoks experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb), with generally warm summers and long, cold winters.

According to Alberta's Municipal Government Act, a town is eligible for city status when it reaches 10,000 residents.

[63] The sawmill that was established by John Lineham along the Sheep River in 1891 operated for 25 years and was a major part of the local economy.

It was not unusual to see the bright yellow, three-story high, block-long, block-wide pile of sulphur waiting to be melted or ground up and poured into railway cars.

The site has now evolved into an airpark community called the Calgary/Okotoks Air Park, where the property owners, if they wish, can build homes with attached hangars for their private planes.