Watson is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of 777 residents in the

rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipality (Canada), Rural municipalities in Canada, a Lists of municipalities in Canada, type of municipa ...

of Lakeside, in the

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

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. Watson is located on the intersection of

Highway 5 Route 5, or Highway 5, may refer to routes in the following countries: International * Asian Highway 5 * European route E05 * European route E005 Argentina * National Route 5 Australia New South Wales * M5 Motorway (Sydney) * The De ...

and Highway 6, the Canam Highway. Watson is approximately the same distance from

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

which is to the west, and Regina to the south, which gives rise to its town motto, ''Industrial Crossroads of Saskatchewan''.

History

Settlers began arriving in the early 1900s, many of them

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

Catholics. The first post office in the area was established on April 1, 1904 and named ''Vossen'' after its postmaster, Frank J. Vossen Jr. It was changed to Watson on May 1, 1906, in advance of the village's incorporation on October 6, 1906. The village became a town on August 1, 1908. The town's namesake is

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Robert Watson. Senator Watson, originally owned the land the town was built on. Watson celebrated its first Santa Claus Day in 1932, and in 1996 erected a -high Santa Claus to commemorate the event.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), 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 cultur ...

, Watson 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.

Geography

Jansen Lake, Houghton Lake, Lenore Lake, Ironspring Creek, Big Quill Lake and Little Quill Lake are all close to Watson.

Transportation

The town is located at the junction of

Saskatchewan Highway 5 Highway 5 is a major highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It begins in downtown Saskatoon and runs eastward to the Manitoba border near Togo, where it becomes Provincial Road 363. The highway is approximately long. Between the e ...

and

Saskatchewan Highway 6 Highway 6 is a paved undivided major provincial highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from Montana Highway 16 at the Canada–US border near the Canada customs port of Regway to Highway 55 near Choiceland. Highway 6 is abo ...

. ;Railway Melfort Subdivision C.P.R—serves Lanigan, Leroy, Watson, Spalding Margo Subdivision

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

Notable people

Dustin Tokarski Dustin Michael Tokarski (born September 16, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Pittsburgh Penguins of the ...

–

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Goaltender *

Ross Lonsberry David Ross Lonsberry (February 7, 1947 – May 4, 2014) was a Canadians, Canadian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Philade ...

–

Player *

Max McNab Maxwell Douglas McNab (June 21, 1924 – September 2, 2007) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and National Hockey League (NHL) general manager. He played in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings between 1947 and 1951, winning the ...

–

Player, Coach, GM *

Rod Gantefoer Rod Gantefoer (born May 15, 1947) is a Canadian provincial politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1995 to 2011, representing the constituencies of Melfort-Tisdale from 1995 to 2003 and Melfort from 2003 to ...

–

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, in the na ...

MLA, Finance

References

External links

* {{Authority control Towns in Saskatchewan Lakeside No. 338, Saskatchewan Division No. 10, Saskatchewan