Watson is a town of 777 residents in the Rural Municipality of Lakeside No. 338, 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 ...

. Watson is located on the intersection of Highway 5 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 (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

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 Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

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; ), 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 ...

, 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 Lenore Lake is a partly saline lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is part of the Lenore Lake basin, which includes several saline lakes ( Basin, Middle, Frog, Ranch, Murphy, Flat, Mantrap, Houghton, Deadmoose, and Waldsea) a ...

, Ironspring Creek, and the Quill Lakes are all close to Watson.

McNab Regional Park

McNab Regional Park () is a

regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government. Definition A regional park can be a special park distr ...

on the south side of Watson. Access is from Highway 6. The park has a golf course, campground, mini-golf, swimming pool, and playground. The golf course is a 9-hole, par 35 grass greens course. The men's tees total 3,174 yards while the women's total 2,946. The clubhouse is licensed and there are rentals available. The park, founded in 1980, was named after the Peter McNab family. Peter McNab was a professional ice hockey player who played on five different

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

teams during the 1970s and 1980s. Max McNab, who also played in the NHL and was born in Watson, was there at the time to officially open the park. In 2001, the park was upgraded with an expanded golf course, grass greens, a new clubhouse, and a larger pool complex.

Transportation

The town is located at the junction of Saskatchewan Highway 5 and Saskatchewan Highway 6. ;Railway Melfort Subdivision C.P.R—serves Lanigan, Leroy, Watson, Spalding Margo Subdivision

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

Notable people

* Dustin Tokarski –

Goaltender *

Ross Lonsberry David Ross Lonsberry (February 7, 1947 – May 4, 2014) was a 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, Philadelphia Flyer ...

–

Player * Max McNab –

Player, Coach, GM * Rod Gantefoer –

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 ...

MLA, Finance

References

External links

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