The settlement now known as Kenaston, Saskatchewan, was originally called Bonnington Springs, Assiniboia, in the North-West Territories. It was typically referred to as Bonnington. When Saskatchewan became a province in late 1905, the name was changed to Kenaston in honor of F.E. Kenaston, Vice President of the Saskatchewan Valley Land Company.
The railroad reached Bonnington in 1889, but there were no permanent residents until 1902. That year, the Saskatchewan Valley Land Company was formed by a group of wealthy American men. The company's president, Col. A.D. Davidson, and F.E. Kenaston, who also headed the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, played key roles.
The company purchased 839,000 acres from the railway at $1.53 per acre, along with another 250,000 acres from the Dominion Government at $1.00 per acre. Through effective advertising and land agents, the area between Regina and Saskatoon was quickly populated with settlers between 1902 and 1910.
The growing settlement, driven by the needs of new settlers, incorporated as a village in July 1910. Key developments included the opening of the Kenaston School in 1905, the construction of the first store in 1903, and the establishment of a post office and hotel in 1904. The village saw its first grain elevator built by the Canadian Elevator Company in 1906, and the CNR built a 40,000-gallon water tower near the train station in 1910.
In 1904, Croatian settlers began arriving in the Kenaston area, mostly from Lovinac and nearby villages in Croatia. These families, such as the Pavelich, Prpich, and Tomljenovich families, were joined by others over the following decade. By 1914, Croatians held 41 homesteads in the area, and by the 1920s, they had acquired 50,000 acres of land. This was a stark contrast to their backgrounds as poor, illiterate farmers in Croatia, where farms were often as small as one or two acres.
Many of these Croatian settlers had first worked in railroad gangs in the U.S. and as coal miners in Canada before hearing about homesteads in Saskatchewan. They initially arrived as single men and were later joined by wives and family members. Despite limited education, they quickly adapted, developing large-scale grain farms.
The Croatian settlers valued cooperation, reflected in their strong support for organizations like the United Grain Growers and the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Their children helped them learn English, and within a generation, some even adopted English names. Community life revolved around church activities, school concerts, fairs, and family events like weddings and baptisms.
While Kenaston became the most prominent Croatian settlement in Saskatchewan, smaller groups of Croatians settled elsewhere, including near Leask. Some Croatian settlers also lived alongside Serbian neighbors, such as those who founded Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Regina in 1916, the first Serbian Orthodox parish in Canada.

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History - Village of Kenaston

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Inserted: 10-09-2024 22:09:07