By Kayla Bruch

A peek at P.A.’s humble beginnings

Feb 6, 2015 | 4:17 PM

Formerly two communities, Prince Albert has grown from one building into the third-largest city in Saskatchewan.

Prince Albert Historical Society volunteer Jamie Benson took his time to reminisce about the city’s past during Archives Week.

In 1866 James Nisbet came from Fort Gary – which is now known as Winnipeg – and established a home base in Prince Albert. Benson said Nisbet originally planned to call the city Victoria, but found out there was already a community named after Queen Victoria. Nisbet had to settle for Queen Victoria’s husband, the prince consort, Prince Albert.

“[Nisbet] built a house and the following year they built more buildings and they started to put in crops. Other people eventually came and joined them and they created a community. It [grew] from the first building that he put in here [and] it expanded and became a village,” he said.

The first building in Prince Albert was called the Mission House, which Benson said was built on the corner of River Street and Central Avenue. At the time Benson said settlements and buildings were mainly being erected on the south side of the river.

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

2h ago

Weather issues

Old man winter returns for one more round

3h ago

Unlocking success in real estate with Glenn Zdrill

7h ago

“The 3,000 acres east of 6th Avenue East still belonged to the Hudson Bay Company and in the early days as the community expanded, that came to be called Goschen. It was named after the factor of the Hudson Bay Company at the time,” he said. “The area of Goschen built up around the Hudson Bay store and facilities and eventually the two communities [Goschen and Prince Albert] joined up…and became the…greater Prince Albert.”

Prince Albert expanded in spurts. Benson said it would take off in one direction and then head in another. What really established the downtown district was when the Presbyterian Church started selling cheap lots in 1878.

“The Presbyterian Church owned river lot 78…from 1st Avenue East to 1st Avenue West and back from the river about two miles,” Benson said the low prices led businesses to buy them – and helped Central Avenue thrive as a business district.  

In the late 1800s as the business community grew Prince Albert’s wealthy residents began building mansions up on the hills. Benson said at the time the brick industry was very successful in Prince Albert, with many people taking advantage of local materials bought from brick plants within the city.

“We used to refer to the West Hill and the old East Hill areas as ‘snob hill’ area because that’s where the wealthier people went to build their mansions…where the plebeians such as we are now would stay down in the flat, close to their places of work,” he said. “Crescent Heights was a new subdivision when I first came back here in 1968 there was nothing much east of that.”

103 years later, still no second traffic bridge

It has been over 100 years since discussions began for a second bridge in Prince Albert but there was a time in Prince Albert’s history when there were no bridges, just a ferry.

“It took off from 1st Avenue West and across to … the far side of the river,” Benson said.

It is also believed that around 6th Avenue East there was a second ferry, although the museum has no pictures to prove this.

In 1909, the City of Prince Albert bit the bullet after much debate with railway companies about who should build the city’s first bridge, Benson explained.

That bridge is still used as a railway bridge.

“It had the railway in the middle, the traffic lanes on each side and then pedestrian lanes outside the traffic lanes. That was our bridge it was built in 1909 and that was our only traffic bridge until 1960 when the Diefenbaker Bridge was built,” he said.

This bridge was even made to swivel in the middle allowing river boats to pass through. Benson said this was rather advanced for the time and if you look at the railway bridge today you can still see where it used to turn.

“It was operated by two men who turned big wheels to swing the bridge. River boats used to have to blow there horn…to let them know they’re coming so they would open the bridge,” he said.

In 1912, three years after the railway bridge was opened, the people of Prince Albert proposed a second bridge be built, but the proposal never panned out. However, in 1960 the city opted for a newer more efficient bridge system in and out of Prince Albert, now called the Diefenbaker Bridge.

“It was officially opened in 1960 but I don’t think it had any traffic until 1961,” he said.

Although it might seem laughable to consider Diefenbaker bridge as a luxury now, at the time people were impressed, Benson said.

“At the time it was the modern state of the art bridge. It was a beautiful bridge, four lanes. We used to have two lanes on the old bridge, it was straight on, straight off. We used to have a corner coming off both ends of the old bridge there’s no comparison.”

kbruch@panow.com

On Twitter: @KaylaBruch1