Curiosity Club: ‘Why did P.A. choose the penitentiary over the University of Saskatchewan?’

The establishment of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and the subsequent decision to build a penitentiary in Prince Albert were unrelated, as far as Payton can tell. And certainly, neither choice was made by the City of Prince Albert.

But while the myth is easy enough to debunk, what its enduring appeal reveals about the psyche of the city is a little more complicated.

Emmanuel College in Prince Albert, seen here in a 1891 photo, was the first university in what is now Saskatchewan. (Submitted/P.A. Historical Society)

The university

Payton explains Prince Albert was actually home to the first university in what is now Saskatchewan. Emmanuel College was established in 1879. Four years later, its bishop received federal approval to incorporate it as the University of Saskatchewan.

After Saskatchewan became a province in 1905, its government decided to establish its own provincial university, which multiple communities including Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, and Regina all wanted to host. To make the decision, the province appointed nine people – four from the north and four from the south – plus the prospective university’s president. In 1909, the nine men voted for the location in a series of run-off ballots. When Prince Albert was eliminated in an early round, the city’s two representatives threw their support behind Saskatoon, who ultimately won. Prince Albert’s Emmanuel College moved to Saskatoon a few years later, where it remains to this day.

Emmanuel College in 1900. The school was located just west of the current location of Saskatchewan Penitentiary. (Submitted/Prince Albert Historical Society)

The penitentiary

As for how the penitentiary came to Prince Albert, Payton has never been able to figure out exactly why the Gateway to the North was chosen as the location, but he does know “the decision was made by the federal government, not by the citizens of Prince Albert.”

In 1911, the federal government decided to close a federal penitentiary in Edmonton and build one in Prince Albert, Payton explains. The thirty-six inmates in the Alberta institution were transferred to the new facility in Prince Albert. Payton hasn’t been able to ascertain the reasons for the decision.

“Whether there was a preponderance of inmates from Saskatchewan housed in the Edmonton institution, or whether there was some other reason for it, I don’t know,” he says

At the time, Prince Albert was something of a stronghold for the federal Liberal party. The sitting prime minister, Wilfred Laurier had been elected in the riding, before choosing to represent his native Quebec City. It’s possible Laurier may have given the penitentiary to Prince Albert as something of a gift.

“It might have been that the Laurier government said, ‘we’re going to reward Prince Albert, by giving them the penitentiary,'” Payton says. “Because penitentiaries tend to be, and they still are, big business in a community.”

Saskatchewan Penitentiary under construction in 1910. (Submitted/Prince Albert Historical Society)

The ‘inferiority complex’

So how did the fictitious choice between education and incarceration become part of P.A. city lore? Well, Payton believes it ties back to perhaps the most formative of Prince Albert’s origin stories: the La Colle Falls Dam.

“La Colle Falls was supposed to make Prince Albert the industrial capital of Saskatchewan,” he explains. “When La Colle Falls fell through, people in Prince Albert started to get this inferiority complex. And when you have an inferiority complex you tend to go ‘Oh, you know, if only we’d had the university come here, why did we get the penitentiary instead?’ I think it just grew out of talk like that.”

The collapse of the wildly ambitious project wasn’t just a matter of bruised egos for the city. By the time P.A.’s leaders pulled the plug on the dam, the municipality was on the verge of bankruptcy. Prince Albert would labour under the burden of debt from the failed hydroelectric dam for the next 50 years, not paying off its last loan for the project until 1965.

During that time, Payton explains, while other cities benefitted from low-interest rates to make improvements and maintain infrastructure, Prince Albert wasn’t allowed to borrow money.

“Prince Albert fell behind in a lot of ways with respect to the amenities in the community,” he said.

Coun. Don Cody says Prince Albert has overcome any lingering inferiority complex. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

‘Back on track’

And today? Over a century after the city abandoned the dam that stretched a third of the way across the North Saskatchewan and 56 years since the debt was paid in full, one of Prince Albert’s longest-serving politicians says he believes the city has overcome any lingering inferiority complex.

“I think we are now very much into our own,” former mayor and current Ward 4 city councillor Don Cody says. “Since that time, we’ve had a lot of stuff go on in our community.”

Cody lists the construction of the Rawlinson Centre, the Forestry Centre, the courthouse, and the Cornerstone shopping district as recent examples.

“I think we’re back on track pretty much where we believed we should have been in the first place,” he says.

Coincidentally, the city is currently considering developing La Colle Falls as a historic site.

“It would be tremendous as a historic site and a tourism attraction,” says Cody. “Just going there and seeing the beauty of the river and the area.”

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom

by Alison Sandstrom

Curiosity Club: ‘Why did P.A. choose the penitentiary over the University of Saskatchewan?’

The university

The penitentiary

The ‘inferiority complex’

‘Back on track’

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