Gravelbourg

This article is about the small town in Canada. For the rural municipality, see Gravelbourg No. 104, Saskatchewan.
Gravelbourg
Town

Flag
Gravelbourg

Location of Gravelbourg in Saskatchewan

Coordinates: 49°52′26″N 106°33′18″W / 49.874°N 106.555°W / 49.874; -106.555
Country Canada
Province Saskatchewan
Census division 3
Rural Municipality Gravelbourg
Post office Founded 1907
Incorporated (Town) 1916[1]
Government
 • Mayor Edward Lagasse[2]
 • Town Manager Gord Murray
 • Governing body Gravelbourg Town Council
 • MLA Wood River Yogi Huyghebaert
 • MP Cypress Hills-Grasslands David Anderson
Area
 • Total 3.23 km2 (1.25 sq mi)
Population (2011[3])
 • Total 1,116
 • Density 346.0/km2 (896/sq mi)
Time zone CST
Postal code S0H 1X0
Area code(s) 306
Highways Redcoat Trail
Website Town of Gravelbourg website
[4][5][6]

Gravelbourg is a small multicultural town in south central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located just west of the Wood River at the junction of provincial Highway 43 and Highway 58, approximately 125 kilometres from Moose Jaw, Swift Current, and the United States border. The region served as a path for First Nations peoples many years ago, and was also integrated into the Redcoat Trail of the 19th century. Gravelbourg is now a key link on the 21st century Trans Canada Trail.

Gravelbourg is also referenced in the fourth verse of the North American version of "I've Been Everywhere", written by Geoff Mack and made popular in North America by Hank Snow and more recently Johnny Cash.

History

Gaiety Theatre
C.N.R. Station
Post Office

Gravelbourg was settled in the early 1900s and was one of the French block settlements of the Gravelbourg-Lafleche-Meyronne area in southwestern Saskatchewan,[7] In 1930 it became the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic diocese of Gravelbourg.[8][9]

Gravelbourg carries the name of its founder Abbé Louis-Pierre Gravel.[10] Louis-Pierre Gravel was designated a Person of National Historic Significance in 1956.[11] The inscription on the monument in Gravelbourg built in 1958 to honour him reads:

“Between 1906 and 1926 more than ten thousand Canadian citizens, many of whom were then living in the United States, answered the call of Reverend Louis-Pierre Gravel to make their homes on the broad plains of Saskatchewan where they built towns and established French-speaking cultural institutions.” Parks Canada[11]

Gravelbourg celebrated its centennial in 2006.

Gravelbourg celebrates its many cultures at its annual Summer Solstice Festival d'été.

Historic Buildings

A number of heritage buildings are located within the community.

Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Cathedral, the former Convent of Jesus and Mary and the former Bishop's Residence were designated the Gravelbourg Ecclesiastical Buildings National Historic Site of Canada in 1995.[12]

Gravelbourg Court House,[13] College Mathieu Pavilion,[14] Gravelbourg Post Office,[15] Gaiety Theatre and[16] Canadian National Railway Station[17] are also listed heritage sites.

Demography

Gravelbourg is located in the federal riding of Cypress Hills-Grasslands and in the provincial constituency of Wood River.

Languages

In the 2011 Canada Census, out a total of 1,116 residents 625 chose English while 300 chose French as their mother tongue. Thirty nine percent or 430 residents spoke both English and French.[3]

Other languages spoken in Gravelbourg were: Bisayan languages (5), Chinese (10), Dutch (5), German (15), Korean (5), Lao (5), Spanish (5), Swahili (5) and Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (50).[3]

Climate

Education

Gravelbourg High School (Grades 8 to 12) is located on 1st ave in Gravelbourg. The principal is Jody Lehmann.[21] The Gravelbourg Elementary School (K to Grade 7) is also home to the Chinook Regional Library and the Great Plains College Learning Centre.

The town has for the past four decades been noteworthy for College Mathieu, a francophone boarding school for boys and girls who wish to acquire or retain fluency in French. The school has attracted students from throughout the southern part of the province as well as other areas of Canada and overseas. It offers classes from Grade 8 to 12.[22]

École Beau-Soleil offers K to Grade 7 in French.[23]

Churches

Former Catholic bishopric

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption
Interior of the Cathedral

The town was from 1930 to 1998 the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic diocese of Gravelbourg headed by a Francophone bishop. In 1998, Pope John Paul II suppressed the residential diocese, so that it is now a titular see.[24] The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was at that time designated a "co-cathedral" of the Archdiocese of Regina.[9]

Protestants

The United Church of Canada in Gravelbourg had as its minister, Lorne Calvert, the 13th Premier of Saskatchewan.[25]

There are also the Gravelbourg Lutheran Church and the Church of Christ.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gravelbourg (The Canadian Encyclopedia)". Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  2. ↑ "Municipal Directory System". Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  3. 1 2 3 "2011 Community Profiles". Statistics Canada. Government of Canada. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  4. ↑ National Archives, Archivia Net. "Post Offices and Postmasters". Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  5. ↑ Government of Saskatchewan, MRD Home. "Municipal Directory System (Town of Gravebourg)". Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  6. ↑ "Directory of Communities by Saskatchewan Electoral District" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-10-03.
  7. ↑ "Francophone land settlement in southwestern Saskatchewan by Beckey Hamilton" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-03-23. line feed character in |title= at position 44 (help)
  8. ↑ "Archdiocese of Regina : a history (Gravelbourg)". Retrieved 2014-04-03.
  9. 1 2 "Diocese of Gravelbourg". Retrieved 2012-12-22.
  10. ↑ "Canadian Biography (Louis-Pierre Gravel)". Retrieved 2014-03-23.
  11. 1 2 "Parks Canada (Gravel, Louis-Pierre National Historic Person)". Retrieved 2014-05-15.
  12. ↑ "Gravelbourg Ecclesiastical Buildings". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  13. ↑ "Gravelbourg Court House". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  14. ↑ "College Mathieu Pavillion". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  15. ↑ "Gravelbourg Post Office". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  16. ↑ "Gaiety Theatre". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  17. ↑ "Canadian National Railway Station". Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  18. ↑ "2011 Community Profiles". Canada 2011 Census. Statistics Canada. July 5, 2013. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
  19. ↑ "2006 Community Profiles". Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  20. ↑ Environment Canada Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000, accessed 27 July 2010
  21. ↑ "École Secondaire de Gravelbourg High School". Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  22. ↑ "COLLÈGE MATHIEU DE GRAVELBOURG (Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan)". Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  23. ↑ "Town of Gravelbourg (Schools and Education)". Retrieved 2013-02-04.
  24. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 906
  25. ↑ "The Canadian Encyclopedia (Lorne Calvert)". Retrieved 2013-02-04.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gravelbourg.
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Coordinates: 49°52′26″N 106°33′18″W / 49.874°N 106.555°W / 49.874; -106.555

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