History of Lafleche
There are two local history books, Golden Memories of the Wood River Pioneers and Memories of the Wood River District 1940-1980.
Dan Archer from SaskToday.ca
Jul 31, 2020
Before the homesteading era that started in 1906, the community of Buffalo Head was situated near the cemetery on the south side of Highway 13. The town’s name was changed to Lafleche after Louis-François Laflèche, who’d been a Catholic bishop in Trois-Rivières and an Oblate missionary throughout Western Canada. Settlers from France, Belgium, Quebec, England, Romania and Scandinavia settled in the village, later to become a town in 1953. The future town shifted to its present location across the road in 1913, when the Canadian Pacific Railway rumbled through Lafleche, Expanse and Assiniboia.
Following the railway, grain elevators and agricultural businesses were constructed in Lafleche.
The first grain elevator in the community was built in 1912 by M.B. Lyttle. In the same year, numerous enterprises were launched in Lafleche, including Beaver Lumber, the Lafleche Cafe, Murphy’s Pool Hall and the Metropole Hotel. A telegraph service was founded in Lafleche on December 1, 1913.
Lafleche’s background is multi-ethnic, yet there’s a distinct French Catholic air about the town, with treed boulevards and a Gothic brick-faced church built in 1922.
St. Radegonde Roman Catholic Church is a listed heritage building. The community’s older church was recycled into the Legion Hall.
The first Catholic church was built in Lafleche in 1913, a year before Father Emile Dubois appeared in the community in 1914.
Dubois is said to have actively helped pioneers establish themselves in the vicinity of Lafleche.
The Sisters of the Holy Cross arrived from 1915-1917. Soon, a convent school for the boys and girls in the community and boarder students was completed.
In modern times, Lafleche Central School operates as a K-12 facility on 324 Second Street West.
Former Home Page of Website:
Lafleche is a small town (though definitely the largest within the RM) of 373 people and both the RM and Town boast a rich history. Two written projects detail the history of the district, Golden Memories of The Wood River Pioneers and Memories of the Wood River District 1940-2000.
Homesteaders first arrived in the old Lafleche town-site in 1908 and settlement followed quickly.
Below is an excerpt from the former (the excerpt in turn is an excerpt from Wrigley’s Saskatchewan Directory).
“Lafleche is located on the Weyburn-Lethbridge branch of the C.P.R., about 30 miles west of Assiniboia and lies 48 miles north of the International Boundary, in the center of one of the best farming districts in southwestern Saskatchewan … With a population of 450, the largest of any village on this line, and a territory 10 miles wide by 50 miles long from which it draws trade, Lafleche is a very busy and prosperous point … There is still room for new people with new business, as well as opportunities to purchase businesses now going or well equipped farms in the surrounding district.”
Below is an excerpt from the same book, this time an excerpt itself of “Growing up in a Prairie Town” by Malcolm Galbraith.
“One could easily write a book about growing up in those years in a Prairie town. We had room to move, clean air, the whole community was our gymnasium. We skated, swam in Wood River, played baseball, curled, played tennis, had field days. As growing boys and girls we had few of the ‘problems’ the same age groups have today.
Above all, we had dedicated people in our homes, schools, churches and our communities. As one looks back one is compelled to say to all those parents, teachers, ministers, priests and many others, ‘Thank you’.”
It is with great pride that many people call this place home, and our community is one chock-full of volunteers and community spirit. Browse our website to get a feel for the community; call, email or stop by the Town/RM office with any questions you may have; or stop by any of our businesses, sports nights, or events to see what we have to offer.