2015 marks the 110th
anniversary of the incorporation of Cupar as a village and
Saskatchewan as a province. The town, various organizations and
individuals have started to make plans. July 4th has been
set aside for the majority of social activities. I started thinking
about how I as an individual might contribute beyond any organization
I belong to.
In the early 1980's many towns across
the province published history books that included family histories,
but alas some families that included “founding fathers” aka
business men, were missing. In 1965 for the 60th
anniversary of Cupar a compilation called “Pioneer Portraits” was
published on legal size paper on gestetner machines. I can't even
spell it and can't find it in the dictionary but found it on google.
What does that say? Anyhow there was some valuable information about
the development of the town I found intriguing.
Like many small towns the physical look
of our main streets have changed mainly due to fires and in our case
also a cyclone in 1946. I decided to focus on buildings and
businesses in Cupar over the years, how they have changed, who owned
them and stories about the owners. Our museum is fortunate to have a
sketch of the down town business section from 1914, Wrigley's
Saskatchewan Directory from 1921 and a fire insurance map of the same
area from 1929. So I have some reference to start with.
According to Roy Pengelly in “Pioneer
Portraits” Hastings and McLaughlin operated a store on the N.W. 7
Tp 22 R16 W2, and hauled this building to the new town-site to start
the first general store.
In the Cupar History book pages 254 to
256 gives a fuller account of Adam Luther Hastings who moved his
store into Cupar in 1905 when the township of Cupar was established
and the Grand Trunk came through. Hastings also had the first post
office from 1906-08, and was elected the village's first overseer.
The write up portrays an intriguing man I would loved to have
met.
