Maidstone is a town in west central

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 about 57 km (35 miles) east of

Lloydminster Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administra ...

and 84 km (52 miles) west of

North Battleford North Battleford is a city in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is the seventh largest city in the province and is directly across the North Saskatchewan River from the town of Battleford. Together, the two communities are known as "The B ...

at the junction of Highway 16 and Highway 21. The community was named after Maidstone, Kent, England. It is mentioned in

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

's "Song For Sharon" from her ''

Hejira The Hijrah, () also Hegira (from Medieval Latin), was the journey the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Sola ...

'' album and is one of the places in western Canada in which she lived as a young child. The song's seventh verse begins: "When we were kids in Maidstone, Sharon/I went to every wedding in that little town/To see the tears and the kisses/And the pretty lady in the white lace wedding gown..."

History

In the spring of 1903, settlers began arriving in the Maidstone area, many of whom were Barr Colonists. These settlers would be followed by African American settlers from the U.S. and a significant number of

Mennonites Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

after the construction of 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 ...

through the region in 1905. John Henry "Jack" Wesson settled in the area in 1907. He became one of Saskatchewan's foremost farm leaders and became the first president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture in 1936 and the president of 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 ...

in 1937. In 1955 Maidstone officially became a town. Oil and gas development in the 1970s created conditions for growth in the community. The booming economy resulted in the town's population growing from less than 700 at the beginning of the decade to over 1,000 by 1981.

Shiloh people

African Americans from

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

settled in the Eldon district near Maidstone in 1909 creating the first and only African-American farming community in the province. In 1907 Oklahoma and the

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

merged to become a State. The new government enacted segregation and laws disenfranchising African Americans. As a result, many decided to emigrate to

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

to take advantage of offers of free homesteads. About 10 or 12 families, led by Julius Caesar Lane and Joseph Mayes founded the Shiloh colony in the RM of Eldon. At its height in the late 1920s, the colony boasted between 50 and 75 African American families. Today, all that remains of the Shiloh community is a log building called Shiloh Baptist Church, built in 1911 and abandoned in 1940, as well as a graveyard known as the Shiloh Baptist Cemetery located about 29 km northeast of Maidstone. In 1991 the church and cemetery were designated a heritage property. Charlow (Shiloh) Baptist Church located north of Maidstone in the RM of Eldon was built in 1912. It was founded by 12 African American families from

in 1910.

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 ...

, Maidstone 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.

Attractions

*CNR Station in Maidstone was built in 1905. *Charlow (Shiloh) Baptist Church and Cemetery located north of Maidstone was built in 1912. * Silver Lake Regional Park and Silver Lake Golf Club (9-hole golf course) *Delfrari-Victoria Park where the Maidstone & District Museum is located.

Transportation

The community is served by Maidstone Aerodrome which is located northwest.

Sports

Maidstone is the home of the Maidstone Jets of the Saskatchewan Prairie Hockey League.

References

{{coord, 53, 5, 10, N, 109, 17, 47, W, display=title, type:city_region:CA_source:GNS-enwiki Towns in Saskatchewan Black Canadian settlements Populated places established by African Americans Eldon No. 471, Saskatchewan