Radville

Radville is a small valley town in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. A small river, Long Creek, runs through the north end of the town, providing fishing and recreation to the locals. The creek meanders by the east side of the town and then to the south where a second dam is located for the water supply pumphouse.

Radville
Town
Radville, about 1970
Town of Radville in Saskatchewan
Coordinates: 49°28′40″N 104°17′45″W
CountryCanada
ProvinceSaskatchewan
Government
 • MayorRene Bourassa
 • Governing bodyRadville Town Council
Area
 • Total2.16 km2 (0.83 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total860
 • Density398.6/km2 (1,032/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
Postal code span
List of S Postal Codes of Canada
Area code(s)+1-306
Eva's Popcorn Stand, serving many generations of Radvillites.

The town is in the rural municipality #38 of Laurier (incorporated December 13, 1909). It was incorporated in 1911 after being settled in 1895, named after Conrad Paquin.

Radville has a large proportion of French-speaking people.

Notable buildings

One of the historic buildings in Radville is the local restaurant. The building started as the Bon Ton Barber Shop and the first doctor in Radville, Dr. Joseph P. O'Shea's office, which later became the Radville Cafe, followed with the Paris Cafe, the Boston Cafe, the Lasalle, the Glencoe, the Canadian Cafe, the Radville Family Restaurant, and in 2002, the Radville Family Restaurant II. [Reference: A Community in Blooms Project]. The Canadian Cafe was run by Bob and Judy Lee from 1965 until their retirement in 1996.

Radville's historic cafe.

Other restaurants that operated in Radville included the local drive-in Hannigan's (c. 1970-1980), and the restaurant converted from the old Radville townhall called the Dustbowl Diner (c. 1980-1981). Jake Wong's cafe operated from about 1920 until the early 1950s when his daughter Lily and son-in-law Tommy Chow took it over. Lily's sister Jean also ran a cafe across the street.

There was a large pool room, barber shop and bowling alley next door to Wong's cafe.

Radville has had several theatres. The last one, the Oasis Theater, closed its doors in 1977, showing Star Wars as one of its last movies. After standing empty for a few years, the Oasis was bought by local entrepreneur George Hays and converted into the Alley Oops bowling alley. The newspaper South Saskatchewan Star was owned and operated by Oscar Stitt. A few years afterwards, George Hays purchased the local newspaper, the Radville Star, and moved the publication into the same building. The other theatre, owned by Ham Ferris, closed much earlier and was converted into a senior citizens hall in 1972.

The theatre that became a bowling alley.

The local pharmacy, the Radville Drug Store, was operated by Ron Zimmers from the late 1960s through to the 2000s. Initially, a pharmacy degree was not required; however as the operations grew, Zimmers worked his education to achieve his pharmacy degree. The first pharmacy was opened by Harry Koch in the early 1920s and was then sold to Vince Kimball in the mid 1950s.

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, originally the Bank of Commerce, was built in the early 1920s and still operates. The Empire Hotel was built in the early 1920s and is still in operation.

The Catholic school, commonly called the Separate School, is named St. Olivier School.[1] The principal was Ed Borsa in the late 1970s and early 1980s. As the school was located very near the Radville Public School, the children from the two schools would often have soccer matches and other sports events as rivals. There was also the Christian College located on the east side of Long Creek.

The Radville Public School, a traditional 3-storey cube-shaped red brick building, burned to the ground on January 23, 1977.[2][3] A mimeography machine with its alcohol-based image transfer fluid created an explosion in the staff office on the second floor. Picture windows across the street were cracked as a result of the explosion. The new Radville Elementary School opened a few years later. In the interim, the students were sent to some reserved classrooms in the high school, and the younger students were sent to the Catholic school. The principal at the time of the fire was Warren Blackstock.

Churches in Radville were the United, Anglican, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, Catholic.

Radville Regional High School.

The high school was called the Radville Regional High School. Many students bore the letters of RRHS for the local Rebels team. The stability of certain teachers who had long terms in the school created a well balanced, solid background for graduates in furthering education. Floyd Cousins was a favorite principal during the 1940s and 1950s. The school principal was Charles Haggarty from 1967 until 1983. Other key teachers include Wayne Hurlbert, Miss Lecuyer, Estelle Johnston, Ethel Carlson (English), C.K. Lai (Algebra, Geometry), Richard (Dick) Schmidt (Coach).

Eva McNaught, who was wife to the fire chief and drayman Harold, ran Eva's Popcorn stand for many years. Due to the warm long languishing summer nights typical of southern prairie towns, many people stayed out in the evenings and enjoyed the Saskatchewan summer weather.

Radville uses a pumphouse for water treatment and supplying water pressure to its residents. The pumphouse is located on Saskatchewan Highway No. 28 junction into Radville.

Radville CN Train Station located on the east side of Main Street.

Radville used to be a major hub of activity throughout the 1920s to 1970s with a livery, the CN train and 5 grain elevators. Radville was a Canadian National Railway divisional point. It had a roundhouse with turntable, water tank, sand house, coal dock, ice house, bunkhouse, Roadmaster office, stores, stockyard, loading platform, freight and express service. The Radville railway station still remains though now used as a museum. All of the farm implement manufacturers had dealers, i.e. Massey Harris (Adrian Roy), John Deere, Ford, Case (Haden's). Automobile dealerships included General Motors (MacRobert Motors), Ford, and Chrysler. Claude Delaye operated a blacksmith shop. There were 4 general stores, Jack Seede's, Hussein Shibley's, Joe Carles, and Ham Ferris, Melda Morrissette's dress shop, Tetrault's bakery, Watson's hardware store, Clarke's Electric, appliance store, Credit Union, jeweller, 2 barber shops, dry cleaner (Legault's), 2 lumber yards, McIlrath and Security Lumber, Vennard's locker plant, liquor store, and a law office (George Thompson). This diminished when Highway No. 28 was upgraded in about 1975. With horses virtually gone and replaced by automotives and substantially improved roads, the next largest urban center of Weyburn received more and more of Radville's local regional commerce.

Larsen Dam

About a mile north of the town is a dam on the creek, commonly referred to as the Radville Dam or the Larsen Dam. This water reserve was used as the primary water reservoir for Radville until approximately 1984, at which time the town decided to use deep drilled water wells. The dam is stocked by the wildlife and fisheries department of the government. In the 1970s and the earlier 1980s, the dam was stocked with northern pike (or "jackfish") and fresh water perch. Later it was stocked with pickeral (or "walleye") and then with trout.

People

Garbage Man

To the east of the town a small road leads to the local airport and to the old dump grounds. About in 1980, a new landfill was selected several miles away, southwest from the town. A walkway was built in 1994 and named Claffey Blvd, in honor of Vernon Claffey, who was the garbage man for Radville from the late 1930s to 1980s. Claffey provided many old toys that he personally gathered and fixed to the poorer families in Radville.

People

Radville has an active winter community, featuring a hockey rink with the Radville Nationals hockey team. Like most Canadian prairie communities, the town also has a curling rink.

Professional hockey player Darcy Verot hails from Radville.

In the 1980s, Tim Calibaba, son of local businessman Bill Calibaba, formed TWC. He caught the early adoption by Canadians of Mutual Funds and other financial instruments. TWC grew by association and agencies throughout western Canada until it was bought out by Berkshire Investments (Burlington, ON) in 2003 and became Berckshire-TWC Financial Group Inc. In 2007, Manulife Financial purchased Berkshire-TWC. The office continued to operate in Radville as Manualife Financial for a couple of years before being closed.

Radville is home to artist and sculptor Scott Chandler Mcleod. Another prominent artist from Radville is Yvette Moore.

Rodney MacDonald, a lawyer who practises and lives in the region, is an environmentalist who provided much support for the groups working against the Raferty Dam project in 1988.

Many famous politicians are from the Radville district. The Websters, and recently Finance Minister Ralph Goodale. Another well-known politician is Roy Bailey (politician), and his brother, Ray Bailey, a founding member of the Western Canadian Concept (WCC) party.

History of Mayors
  • Metro Smigarowski
  • Oscar David Stitt 1945 - 1951
  • Shropshire (c. 1970)
  • Wilfred Bouchard
  • Alan Roth
  • Darald Marin
  • Armand Bourassa
  • Terry Calibaba (2002)
  • David Bellavance (2009)
  • Shirley Cancade

Population

The population of Radville in 2006 was 755, up from 735 in 2001, according to Statistics Canada. Radville is part of the prairie boom town set in Southern Saskatchewan. Many pioneers set up homesteads with the encouragement of the Canadian government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At peak population in the early 1960s, Radville had approx 5000 residents. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Radville's population was around 1000 people, and diminishing as better means of transport and lifestyle changes meant fewer people were interested in the small farm community lifestyle.

Canada census – Radville community profile
2011 2006
Population: 860 (+8.4% from 2006) 755 (+2.7% from 2001)
Land area: 2.16 km2 (0.83 sq mi) 1.86 km2 (0.72 sq mi)
Population density: 398.6/km2 (1,032/sq mi) 405.2/km2 (1,049/sq mi)
Median age: 42.7 (M: 41.9, F: 43.0)
Total private dwellings: 390 361
Median household income: $61,356
References: 2011[4] 2006[5] earlier[6]

Location

Saskatchewan Highway 28 and Highway 377 pass through Radville. Nearby, the village of Ceylon is 23 km, and the city of Weyburn is 51 km to the northeast. Other nearby communities include Lake Alma, Minton, Gladmar, Pangman, Ogema, Midale and the Port of Regway. These communities heavily support the Radville economy as it is the largest centre in the area.

Major urban centers include Regina, which is 148 km to the north, and Moose Jaw, 143 km northwest.

References

For those seeking more history, in 1983 The Yesteryears was published.

  1. https://st-olivier.holyfamilyrcssd.ca/
  2. The Regina LeaderPost, "Radville fire destroys school", The LeaderPost, January 17, 1977
  3. Facebook post - Regina LeaderPost, "Radville fire destroys school", The LeaderPost, January 17, 1977
  4. "2011 Community Profiles". 2011 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. July 5, 2013. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  5. "2006 Community Profiles". 2006 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  6. "2001 Community Profiles". 2001 Canadian Census. Statistics Canada. February 17, 2012.


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