REGINA HISTORY TOUR by Trevor Harle and Others Introduction In
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
REGINA HISTORY TOUR by Trevor Harle and others Introduction (Start at the corner of Rose Street and Victoria Ave. Drive north on Rose toward Casino Regina.) In 1870 the Dominion of Canada acquired the vast Canadian prairie, known as Rupert’s, Land from the Hudson Bay Company. The building of the CPR transcontinental railway opened the west for settlers. The Railway reached Pile of Bones (Wascana) Creek on August 23, 1882. Edgar Dewdney, Lieutenant-Governor of the North West Territories, and W.C. Van Horne, general manager of the CPR selected this location to be the new seat of the Territorial government and named it Regina, in honour of Queen Victoria. Thus Regina was born. Both Dewdney and the CPR held extensive land holdings in this area. In 1872, the federal government’s Dominion Lands Act encouraged European settlers to come to Western Canada. For $10, they were given access to 160 acres of “unoccupied” land. If they cleared and ploughed the land and built buildings on it within three years, they were given clear title to the land, and then could purchase additional land. Despite what the British government may have pretended, this was not empty, unused land. It had been occupied for thousands of years by Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Ojibwa, Cree, Dakota, Dene and other nations. In 1874 and 1876, the British Crown entered into Treaties 4 and 6—just two of the 11 numbered treaties in Western Canada—covering the prime agricultural land in the Districts of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan respectively, now the south and central part of Saskatchewan. Where we are right now was known as Assiniboia and is covered by Treaty 4, which took effect in 1874. First Nations people believed, and still believe, that the land comes from the Creator and is not anyone’s to own. They believed that the treaties were strategic arrangements through which they would share occupancy and use of their lands with the newcomers. Treaties were a way to get access to tools that would help their people survive - like western education and agriculture - in a time when traditional economies like the buffalo hunt were dying. The settlers, and their government, believed or claimed to believe, that the treaties extinguished all First Nations’ rights and claims to the land, and that control and ownership passed over to the Crown. We are living with the legacy of that dispossession today. Union Station Union Station was built in 1911. It is near here that the early settlers coming to Regina would have disembarked. It was used by both the CP and CN railways. Rail service was the accepted way to travel up to the 1960s. Thousands of service men passed through here during WW II. Passenger service is no longer available in Regina and the station now houses Casino Regina opened in 1996, and run as a partnership between the Government of Saskatchewan and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. (Left at Sask. Drive to Hamilton St.) (South on Hamilton to Victoria) Regina History Tour page 1 Hamilton Street This area was the business centre of Regina. Comment on: Scarth Street Mall, Midtown Centre Galleria - Site of the Old City Hall now houses various departments of the Federal Government, Canada Trust tower - Site of R. H. Williams “Glasgow House” Dept. Store - later Simpson’s, Leader Post building, Hudson Bay Store. Leader Post (on east side of Hamilton St. between 11th & 12th Avenues) In 1882 Nicholas Flood Davin, a lawyer, journalist, and politician came to Regina. He started a local Newspaper calling it the Leader. He gained fame, scoring a national scoop, when, disguised as a priest, he managed to visit Louis Riel in his cell and obtaining an interview conducted in French under the very nose of the English speaking guard. He sold the paper to Walter Scott in 1895. Scott became the first Premier of Saskatchewan. The paper’s name was changed to the Leader Post in 1930 and is still the city’s only daily newspaper. The paper occupied this building from 1913 to 1964. (Right at Victoria to Lorne St.) Victoria Avenue Historical buildings along Victoria Avenue include the SaskPower Building, Federal Building (Heritage Site) and Hotel Saskatchewan. Victoria Park contains a War Memorial Cenotaph. Saskatchewan’s First Land Titles Office (a Heritage Site), constructed in 1907-09, now houses the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. First Baptist Church, Knox-Metropolitan United Church (formerly Metropolitan Methodist). (Right on Lorne St. to 11th Ave.) Regina Cyclone June 30, 1912 was a beautiful summer day. A storm cloud began to build south of the legislative building in the late afternoon and strong winds swept north from the legislative building, across Wascana lake and north along Lorne and Smith Streets, causing extensive damage to homes and buildings. This storm is known as the Regina Cyclone, and is still the worst hurricane that has occurred in Western Canada. One house along this street was turned 180/ and placed back on its foundation. It was repaired but left in its new position. There is the story of a young man who was canoeing in Wascana Lake ending up in Victoria Park, still in his canoe. The storm left 30 people dead, 200 injured and 2500 homeless. (Start driving and point out), The building housing the SGS Library and the Child and Gower Building on 11th Ave. These are buildings that were repaired and still in existence. (Turn left on 11th Ave and left again on Smith Street) Comment on the present Regina City Hall and Courthouse. (Proceed to 13th Ave. West on 13th to Albert St.) Credit Union Central The No. 1 Fire Hall is on the left, Credit Union Central is on the right. Co-operatives have been a traditional way for people in Saskatchewan to meet their needs. Often this has been because our small population (hovering around the one-million mark since it reached its high Regina History Tour page 2 in the early 1930s) has not made Saskatchewan seem profitable enough for business to provide the kinds of for-profit services that they have in other parts of the country. Credit Union Central is the umbrella organization for the province’s credit unions. The Great Depression of the 1930s was an agricultural, financial, and social disaster for the province. By 1937, over 100,000 farm families in Saskatchewan were receiving relief aid in one form or another and thousands of people left the province to make a new beginning. As the farm economy worsened with crop failure after crop failure, it became harder and harder to get credit. People paid attention to the credit unions in Quebec. In 1937, the Legislature passed the Credit Union Act, allowing 10 or more people to form a credit union for the purposes of borrowing or saving money. The first credit union chartered under the act was the Regina Hebrew Savings and Credit Union. (Turn right at Albert St. and proceed north) Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Another example of the co-operative movement is the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Before the Pool was founded in 1924, farmers could only sell their grain to private grain companies, which farmers believed were not paying them a fair price. The wheat pool was member-owned, service charges were kept to a minimum, and any profits were returned to the members. Not so long ago, the Pool had an elevator in over 500 communities. In recent years, the company has been replacing the wooden elevators that most people associate as a feature of the prairie horizon, with huge, high throughput concrete elevators. In 1994 to raise the money, the Pool decided it would go public and sell shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange, ending its days as a true co-operative. Today it is a Public traded company. The part of the building you see was built in 1913 as C.W. Sherwood Department Store. The Pool purchased it in 1926. Note the gargoyles on the top of the Terra Cotta columns that go to under the third floor windows. This is a heritage building. (Continue north on Albert Street and turn left at 9th Ave.) Taylor Field We are driving past Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field, home to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, on our way to the site of the North-West Territorial Government Buildings. (Turn right on Garnet St. and left at Dewdney Ave. heading west. The Territorial building is on the north side of Dewdney.) Territorial Government Buildings We are on Dewdney Avenue named after Edgar Dewdney. There were three buildings on this site, of which one remains. They were built about 1884 and the one you see, was the main office building and the site of the Trial of Louis Riel. If you know your Canadian history you will remember that Riel , originally from Winnipeg and teaching in Montana, was persuaded to return to Saskatchewan and lead the Metis people in attempting to resolve the grievances they had with the Federal Government. They went as far a setting up a provisional council. In March of 1985, actual fighting broke out at Duck Lake when the North West Mounted Police stumbled across some Métis lead by Gabriel Dumont, and shooting broke out. About a dozen police were killed and armed rebellion had begun. Ottawa dispatched a military expedition to quell the rebellion using the not-yet-completed Canadian Pacific Railway. Eventually, after several Regina History Tour page 3 skirmished, the Canadian military defeated the Metis forces at Batoche in May 1885. Riel was captured. His trial began here in July 1885, he was found guilty of treason and hanged on November 16, 1885.