Melville, Saskatchewan

Melville
City
City of Melville

City of Melville
Melville
Coordinates: 50°55′50″N 102°48′28″W / 50.93056°N 102.80778°W / 50.93056; -102.80778Coordinates: 50°55′50″N 102°48′28″W / 50.93056°N 102.80778°W / 50.93056; -102.80778
Country Canada
Province Saskatchewan
Incorporated Village 1908
Incorporated Town November 1, 1909
Incorporated City August 1, 1960
Government
  Mayor Walter Streelasky
  MLA Constituency of Melville-Saltcoats Warren Kaeding
  MP Yorkton—Melville Cathay Wagantall
Area
  Total 14.82 km2 (5.72 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
  Total 4,517
  Metro density 304.8/km2 (789/sq mi)
Time zone Central Standard Time (UTC−6)
Highways

Hwy 10

Hwy 15 Hwy 47
Pearl Park Post office established 1905
Melville Post office established July 1, 1908
[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Melville is a small Canadian city located in the east-central portion of Saskatchewan. The city is 145 kilometres (90 mi) north east of the provincial capital of Regina and 45 kilometres (28 mi) south west of Yorkton. Melville is bordered by the rural municipalities of Cana No. 214 and Stanley No. 215. The population at the 2011 census was 4,517, making it the smallest official city in Saskatchewan.

History

According to What's in a Name?: The Story Behind Saskatchewan Places and Names by E. T. Russell, People Places Contemporary Saskatchewan Placenames by Bill Barry the city was named for Charles Melville Hays, who at the time of the settlement's initial construction was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. [9][10] Hays was on the Titanic when it sank; he did not make it off the ship.

Pearl Park was the area's first post office established in 1905 near the Pearl creek, a tributary of the Qu'Appelle River.[11] Melville was declared a city by the province in 1960.

Panoramic views of Melville, 1913.
Grain elevator in Melville decorated for the visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May, 1939.
Via Rail railway station in Melville, circa 1991

Demographics

Canada census – Melville, Saskatchewan community profile
2011 2006
Population: 4517 (8.9% from 2006) 4149 (-6.8% from 2001)
Land area: 14.82 km2 (5.72 sq mi) 14.82 km2 (5.72 sq mi)
Population density: 304.8/km2 (789/sq mi) 280.0/km2 (725/sq mi)
Median age: 46.0 (M: 44.7, F: 46.7) 46.5 (M: 45.6, F: 47.8)
Total private dwellings: 2000 2093
Median household income:
References: 2011[12] 2006[13]

Under Saskatchewan law, a town must have a sustained population of more than 5,000 in order to apply for and maintain a city charter. Melville is a notable exception to this rule, as it has retained its charter despite dropping below the 5000 threshold.

Government

Currently the mayor is Dr. Walter Streelasky.

Provincially, Melville is within the Constituency of Melville-Saltcoats. It is currently represented served by their MLA, Warren Kaeding.

Melville is represented in the Canadian House of Commons by its MP of the Yorkton—Melville riding, currently Cathay Wagantall.[2][4][5][6]

Infrastructure

Melville's namesake was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, Charles Melville Hays.[9] Since Melville's founding in 1908, it has served as a nexus for railroad activity, currently including that of Canadian National Railway and Via Rail, the latter for which Melville effectively serves as the main rail/bus connection to Regina for its passengers. Today Melville railway station is still served by The Canadian three times per week.

In 2002 the St. Peter's Hospital was constructed. in 1940 St. Peter's was originally founded as a municipal hospital by the Sisters of St. Martha, Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Adjacent to St. Peter's is the St. Paul Lutheran Home. [14]

The Melville Railway Museum[15] (c. 1911) is a Municipal Heritage Property on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.[16]

The Melville Heritage Museum is in the original Luther College (formerly Luther Academy) building, built in 1913. The Luther Academy moved to Regina in 1926. After a stint as St. Paul's Home for Age and Orphan's, the building was declared a heritage site, opening as a museum in the early 1980s.

Melville's connections by road to other communities include Saskatchewan Highways 10, 15 and 47. The closest major centre to Melville is the city of Yorkton, 43 kilometres to the northeast.

Melville Municipal Airport (TC LID: CJV9) is located 1.5 NM (2.8 km; 1.7 mi) east of the city.[17]

Melville airport
Saskattchewan Highway 15 marker, Melville.
Via Rail railway station in Melville.

Education

Melville is served by public and Catholic schools: École St. Henry's Junior Elementary School, and St. Henry's Sr School are both part of the Christ the Teacher Catholic School Division[18][19] The Carlton Regional College Basic Education is located nearby in Lestock. The Melville Comprehensive School, a part of the Good Spirit School Division provides secondary education.[20][21] Parkland Regional College provides post secondary technical training and operates a branch school out of the Melville Comprehensive High School building.[22]

Sports

Melville is home to the Melville Millionaires of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, as well as the Melville Millionaires of the Western Major Baseball League.

In 2011 the Melville Communiplex opened. The federal and provincial governments covered $20 million of the construction costs of the $24.5 million facility. The Communiplex has an NHL size ice surface and seating capacity for 1,500 people, a walking track, fitness and cardio care facilities, and a convention centre. It replaces the existing 60-year-old Melville Stadium, home to the Melville Millionaires.[23]

The city also has an 18 hole golf course.

Melville Senior Champions of Saskatchewan, 1923-24.

Media

Newspaper
Radio

Melville currently has no current radio stations but receives Yorkton radio stations:

Frequency Call sign Branding Format Owner Notes
AM 940 CJGX GX94 country music Harvard Broadcasting
FM 91.7 CBK-FM3 CBC Radio 2 public broadcasting Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Rebroadcaster for CBK-FM
FM 92.9 CJLR-FM-5 MBC Radio First Nations community radio Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation Rebroadcaster for CJLR-FM
FM 94.1 CFGW-FM Fox FM hot adult contemporary Harvard Broadcasting
FM 98.5 CJJC-FM 98.5 The Rock Christian music Dennis M. Dyck

Television

Recreation

Within 20 kilometres (12 mi) are the Melville Game Preserve, Melville Regional Park and Duff Recreation Site.[8]

In the film Hannibal Rising (2007), title character Hannibal Lecter shows up in the "hamlet of Melville" in the final scene. However the town depicted is surrounded by forest and is referred to as "near Saskatoon".

Notable residents

Historic 1908 Canadian National Railway station.[25]
Grain elevator.

Location

References

  1. "2011 Community Profiles". Statistics Canada. Government of Canada. Retrieved 2012-11-27.
  2. 1 2 Canadian Textiles Institute. (2005). "CTI Determine your provincial constituency". Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  3. National Archives, Archivia Net. "Post Offices and Postmasters". Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  4. 1 2 Government of Saskatchewan, MRD Home. "Municipal Directory System". Archived from the original on January 15, 2016. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  5. 1 2 Commissioner of Canada Elections, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (2005). "Elections Canada On-line". Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  6. 1 2 "Melville". Sask Biz Community Profiles Enterprise Saskatchewan. Government of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  7. Giannetta, J. (March/03 updated September 2009). "SASKATCHEWAN COMMUNITIES - the cities (a brief history)". Saskatchewan Schools. Retrieved 2009-09-09. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. 1 2 "Geographical Names of Canada". Natural Resources Canada > Earth Sciences Sector > Priorities > Mapping Services Branch >. Government of Canada. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  9. 1 2 E.T. Russell, ed. (1975). What's In a Name?. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books. ISBN 0-919306-39-X.
  10. Barry, Bill (2003). People Places Contemporary Saskatchewan Placenames. Regina, Canada: Print West communications. p. 230. ISBN 1-894022-92-0.
  11. Barry, Bill (2005). Geographic Names of Saskatchewan. Regina, SK: People Places Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-897010-19-2.
  12. "2011 Community Profiles". Canada 2011 Census. Statistics Canada. July 5, 2013.
  13. "2006 Community Profiles". Canada 2006 Census. Statistics Canada. March 30, 2011.
  14. "St. Peter's Hospital". 2016.
  15. Melville Railway Museum
  16. Canadian Register of Historic Places.
  17. Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 15 September 2016 to 0901Z 10 November 2016
  18. "École St. Henry's Junior Elementary School". Christ the Teacher Catholic School Division. 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-09. Archived February 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. "St. Paul's Catholic Elementary School". Christ the Teacher Catholic School Division. 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  20. "Yorkton Regional High School". History 20: Curriculum Guide - Acknowledgements. 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  21. "http://mcs.gssd.ca/". Good Spirit School Divisio. Retrieved 2009-09-09. External link in |title= (help)
  22. "Parkland Regional College". 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  23. "Melville Communiplex". 2011.
  24. http://www.melvilleadvance.com
  25. Melville Canadian National Railways Station
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melville, Saskatchewan.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.