History of Saskatoon

The history of Saskatoon began with the first permanent settlement of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1883 when Toronto Methodists, wanting to escape the liquor trade in that city, decided to set up a "dry" community in the rapidly growing prairie region. As of 1882 this area was a part of the provisional district named Saskatchewan, North-West Territories. Their organization, the Temperance Colonization Society, first examined this area in 1882 and found that it would make an excellent location to found their community based on the ideals of the temperance movement. The settlers, led by John Neilson Lake, arrived on the site of what is now Saskatoon by traveling by railway from Ontario to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and then completing the final leg via horse-drawn cart (the railway had yet to be completed to Saskatoon). The plan for the Temperance Colony soon failed as the group was unable to obtain a large block of land within the community. Nonetheless, John Lake is commonly identified as the founder of Saskatoon; a public school, a park and two streets are named after him (Lake Crescent, which was developed in the 1960s, and Eastlake Avenue, originally Lake Avenue (as testified on the first map of Saskatoon from 1883), but later changed for reasons unknown).

In 1885, several houses on 11th Street East were used as military hospitals during the North-West Rebellion. One house, the Marr Residence, is currently a heritage site run by the Meewasin Valley Authority. The first school, Victoria School, opened for classes at the corner of 11th Street and Broadway Avenue in 1888. This small school, now called the "Little Stone Schoolhouse", now sits on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan.

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