Available farmland in Ontario became scarce
towards the end of the 1800's. People started to move into what was then known
as the Northwest Territories, setting up farms and towns as they moved west.
Some of the movement came from the Canadas but immigration from other countries
was also encouraged. As the western population grew, the railway followed and
some of the towns became cities.
Regina reached city status on June 19,
1903. It continued to grow rapidly, promoted by its business community. Census
figures for 1911 peg the population at 30,213 but growth was so rapid that the
Board of Trade quoted a population figure of 40,000 by 1912. With numbers
increasing exponentially, housing construction couldn't keep up but Regina
boasted of public buildings more in keeping with a larger city. There was a new
YMCA, YWCA and library. Overlooking Wascana Lake was the Legislative Building
for Saskatchewan, known at the time as the Parliament Building, which had just
been finished and already housed the government offices although the building
had not yet been officially opened.
Among those attracted to the bustling young
city was Harold S. Chambers. After he immigrated in 1911, he ended up working
in a bank in Craik, a town in a farming area. By 1912 he was rooming at a home
in the prosperous southend of Regina, at 2152 Smith Street, and working at the
Union Bank on Scarth Street, an easy walk away. His prior years had been spent
in large urban centres in England so he must have felt more comfortable in the
city. That would change for him and many other Reginans on June 30, 1912.
Lorne Street and Victoria Avenue 1911
City of Regina Archives Photograph Collection,
CORARPL-B-205
Sources
Bingaman, Sandra (2011) . Storm of the
Century: The Regina Tornado of 1912. Regina, Saskatchewan: Canadian Plains
Research Center Press
The City of Regina (1978). Regina before
yesterday: a visual history 1882 to 1945. Regina, Saskatchewan.
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