Ruthilda is a former

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the Rural Municipality of Grandview No. 349,

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It dissolved from village status to become part of the Rural Municipality of Grandview No. 349 on December 31, 2013. Ruthilda is located about 5 km south of Highway 51 approximately 30 km southwest of the Town of Biggar. The name is a blend of Ruth and Hilda, daughters of H. Alex Goodwin, an early settler.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, Ruthilda had a population of 10 living in 4 of its 5 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 5. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

History

The first homesteaders arrived in the district as early as 1905. Among the first to settle in the district were Charles Fraser, Harry Hobbs, James Bowden, Harry Hannah, Bert Pugh, Tom Veitch and son Guy; George and Edward Goldie, J. Sanders and sons, John Nyquist and sons, and Alex Scott. In 1910 a site for a railway station and town site was surveyed. The village was given its name after the two daughters of Alex Goodwin, Ruth and Hilda. The

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National ...

built the grade for the track in 1911; in 1912 the rails were laid and the Ruthilda train station was built. A post office was officially established on November 1, 1912. Other businesses soon followed. Construction continued through 1914 when the Ruthilda school was built. That same year, two new grain elevators were erected. On February 3, 1921 the village of Ruthilda was incorporated. A couple of years later, the

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was a grain handling, agri-food processing and marketing company based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Pool created a network of marketing alliances in North America and internationally which made it the largest agricul ...

erected a third grain elevator. Despite the community’s small size, in 1925 it fielded one of the province’s most formidable baseball teams. A

United Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestantism, Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinc ...

was built in 1928 to give parishioners who had previously worshipped in a variety of places, including; private homes, the lumberyard, the school and the community hall. A second church, Glad Tidings Gospel, was open from 1936 until it closed in 1956. Several fires tore through Ruthilda over the years - in 1926, 1936, 1951 and 1959. Despite reaching a peak population of 114 in 1931, the end was already in site for the community. In 1947, one of the grain elevators was dismantled. The town still had two grain elevators in operation in the late 1970s; however the rail line was abandoned in the mid 1980s. Today, there are no elevators in Ruthilda. The Ruthilda school was closed in 1964. Children were bused to the nearby community of

Plenty, Saskatchewan Plenty (Canada 2016 Census, 2016 population: ) is a village in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Winslow No. 319 and Division No. 13, Saskatchewan, Census Division No. 13 ...

. Population decline soon followed. In 1966 the community boasted 85 residents, however, by 1971 that number had fallen to 48. Business closures quickly followed. Today, there are only five residents and no businesses left in the community.

Spring Water Hutterite Colony

The Spring Water

Hutterite Hutterites (; ), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century and have formed intent ...

Colony was founded in 1982 near Ruthilda as a division from the Valley View Hutterite Colony in

Linden, Alberta Linden is a village located in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Kneehill County. It is located southwest of Three Hills and north of Beiseker. The area surrounding the village was originally settled by members of the Mennonite chu ...

. In 2017 the Spring Water Hutterite Colony became a member of Dariusleut group.

Gallery

File:Ruthilda Saskatchewan Water Tower.jpg, Water tower in Ruthilda File:Ruthilda Saskatchewan Garage.jpg, Garage in Ruthilda

References

{{coord, 51, 53, 34, N, 108, 28, 05, W, display=title, region:CA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Grandview No. 349, Saskatchewan Designated places in Saskatchewan Former villages in Saskatchewan Populated places disestablished in 2013 Division No. 13, Saskatchewan

Demographics

History

Spring Water Hutterite Colony

Gallery

See also

References