Calder ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

within the Rural Municipality of Calder No. 241 and Census Division No. 9. The village lies approximately 56 km east of the city of

Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about north-west of Winnipeg and south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. Yorkton was founded in 1882 and incorporated as a city in 1928. ...

and 35 km west of

Roblin, Manitoba Roblin is an incorporated urban community located within the Municipality of Roblin in Manitoba, Canada. Situated approximately 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Prior to 1 January 2015, Roblin was designated as a town. ...

, approximately 5 km south of Highway 8 and Highway 10.

History

The history of Calder goes back to 1888, when a number of

Icelanders Icelanders () are an ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland. They speak Icelandic, a North Germanic language. Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 CE when the (parliament) met for th ...

and others settled just to the south of the present village, calling it the "Lögberg" district or "Lögberg of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

". By the year 1897, the Icelanders and their other neighbours were quite comfortably settled when a group of

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

from the Austrian

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s of

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

and Galicia arrived by rail between 1897 and 1898 at

Saltcoats Saltcoats (; Scots: ''Saulcuts'') is a town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages ...

. Government agents escorted the new settlers to quarter sections of land where they homesteaded within a five to 10 mile radius of the present site of Calder. Additional Romanian

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

from Bucovina continued to homestead remaining sections south of Calder between 1899 and 1905. In the fall of 1910, the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

came through and called the site "Third Siding West of Shellmouth". The rail reached the homestead of Mike Rohatensky before halting construction for the winter months. A railway loop was built in Calder where the train turned and journeyed back to Russell. A petition to incorporate as a village was signed by 13 local business leaders in October 1910. Calder incorporated as a village on January 18, 1911. It was named after MLA James Alexander Calder. The first

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

to form a village council were held on January 6, 1911. In 1929, the Calder Electric Company brought electric power to the village and several street lamps were erected.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Calder had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census of Population, the Village of Calder recorded a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change from its 2011 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Education

In 1891, Rothbury School was built followed by Minerva School in 1895. These schools to the south of the Icelandic settlement were too great a distance for the Ukrainians to attend. Thus, they applied for schools closer by. The first one to be built in the immediate five-mile radius was Chernawka School, erected in 1906, 1½ miles east of the village site. It was named after a village in Bucovina. Mostetz School was built in 1907, named after homesteader Henry Mostoway and Torsk School was erected about the same time. It wasn't until after the railway came through and the village of Calder was incorporated in 1911, that Calder School District #515 was established. A lean-to was built onto a poolroom on Main Street and in this makeshift schoolroom was where first classes were held with Miss Fannie Brown as teacher. In 1912 a two-story school was erected. In 1914 the school was closed due to a

small pox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and pla ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

and in 1917 the school was closed for three months due to the

influenza epidemic Flu season is an annually recurring time period characterized by the prevalence of an outbreak of influenza (flu). The season occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere. It takes approximately two days to show symptoms. Influen ...

. High school grades weren't offered until 1922. In 1929 a third room was added, which became the room for the high school grades. By the year 1954, rural schools were facing closure and some of these students were then bussed into Calder. Thus, a new school was built in 1961 to accommodate the increasing attendance. Two of the buildings from the old school on Main Street were moved to the current Calder School premises to become classrooms. Also, at this time, Calder School became part of the Kamsack School Unit. From 1961 to 1966, seven classrooms were in operation. In 1967, Grades 10, 11 and 12 transferred to the Yorkton Regional High School. It wasn't until the 1998 that the Grade 9 classes were transferred to school in Yorkton. Currently the school teaches grades K-8. Calder celebrated the Province of Saskatchewan's Centennial July 30 – 31st,2005 were the village introduced the official flag, which the design had been part of the Calder School's students as a competition. Over 600 current and previous residents in attendance. In July 2011 the village held its 100th anniversary.

References

{{Authority control Villages in Saskatchewan Calder No. 241, Saskatchewan Division No. 9, Saskatchewan

History

Demographics

Education

See also

References