Thehistory of Saskatoon began with the first permanent non-indigenous settlement ofSaskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1883 whenTorontoMethodists, wanting to escape the liquor trade in that city, decided to set up a "dry" community in the rapidly growingprairie region. As of 1882 this area was a part of theprovisional district namedSaskatchewan,North-West Territories (NWT). Their organization, the Temperance Colonization Society, first examined this area in 1882 and found that it would make an excellent location to found their community based on the ideals of thetemperance movement; Saskatoon traditionally considers 1882 its founding year and thus marked its centennial in 1982. The settlers, led byJohn Neilson Lake, arrived on the site of what is now Saskatoon by traveling by railway fromOntario toMoose Jaw, Assiniboia, NWT, and then completing the final leg via horse-drawn cart (the railway had yet to be completed to Saskatoon). The plan for the Temperance Colony soon failed as the group was unable to obtain a large block of land within the community. Nonetheless, John Lake is commonly identified as the founder of Saskatoon; a public school, a park and two streets are named after him (Lake Crescent, which was developed in the 1960s, and Eastlake Avenue, originally Lake Avenue (as testified on the first map of Saskatoon from 1883), but later changed for reasons unknown).

In 1885, several houses on 11th Street East were used as military hospitals during theNorth-West Rebellion. One house, theMarr Residence, is a heritage site run by theMeewasin Valley Authority. The first school, Victoria School, opened for classes at the corner of 11th Street and Broadway Avenue in 1888. This small school, now called the "Little Stone Schoolhouse", now sits on the campus of theUniversity of Saskatchewan.

Before the founding of the city itself, the Saskatoon area was already inhabited by nomadicindigenous peoples, with the oldest traces of occupation dating back around 6,000 years. Stratified remains from the Tipperary Creek First Nations sites near Saskatoon indicate that the area was occupied by indigenous peoples in winter.^[1] The future site of Saskatoon was part of the lands that First Nations ceded to the Crown byTreaty 6 in 1876.

TheQu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan Railway reached Saskatoon in 1890 and crossed the South Saskatchewan River where theSenator Sid Buckwold Bridge now stands, causing a boom in development on the west side of the river.

From the end of theNorth-West Rebellion in 1895 to 1913, Saskatoon was a "boom town" that saw large population growth.^[2] The main contributing factors of the growth include the establishment of a temperance settlement in the area during the late 19th century, an economic surge created by the Barr colonists 1903, the city becoming a railway network hub, and the establishment of theUniversity of Saskatchewan in the city.

In 1901, Saskatoon's population hit 113. A third settlement,Riversdale, also began just southwest of Saskatoon. 1903 saw an economic boom for Saskatoon with the encampment of Barr colonists on their way to theBrittania colony.^[3] A town charter for the west side of the river was obtained in 1903; Nutana became a village in the same year.

April 1904 saw the collapse of the railway bridge due tospring melt and ice on theSouth Saskatchewan River.^[4] The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway system survey proposed Hanley as its northern terminal between Regina and Prince Albert.^[5] Saskatoon's Board of Trade sent delegates from Saskatoon toOttawa to discuss the river crossing and proposed city bridges. Their mission resulted in the selection of Saskatoon as the divisional centre for both theCanadian Pacific Railway and theGrand Trunk Pacific Railway; both of these built bridges near the town by 1907.^[4] TheQu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan railway bridge was rebuilt in 1905 and again after a train fell through it on March 4, 1912.^[6][7] The bridge was demolished in 1964 to make way for theSenator Sid Buckwold Bridge and theIdylwyld Freeway.^[8]

In 1906 Saskatoon became a city with a population of 4,500, which included the communities ofSaskatoon,Riversdale, andNutana.

Following the formation of the Province ofSaskatchewan September 1, 1905, PremierWalter Scott focused on the creation of a provincial university and agricultural college.Moose Jaw,Prince Albert,Saskatoon,Regina,Qu'Appelle,Indian Head andBattleford were all under consideration for this location. PresidentWalter Murray and the Board of University Governors voted in favour of Saskatoon on April 7, 1907.^[9]

1907 saw the completion of theTraffic Bridge, as well as theCPR Bridge andGrand Trunk Pacific GTP Railway Bridge.^[10] The geographical barrier:South Saskatchewan River between Nutana and West Saskatoon was overcome with the building of theTraffic Bridge, which opened in 1907. The physical barrier of the CNR rail yards isolated Riversdale and Saskatoon. Road underpasses below the railway were built at 19th and 23rd Streets, and a wooden pedestrian overpass at 20th Street.^[11]

From 1920 to 1926 and from 1938 to 1942 Saskatoon usedsingle transferable vote (STV), a form of proportional representation, to elect its councillors. Councillors were elected in one at-large district. Each voter cast just a single vote, using a ranked transferable ballot.^[12]

After theFirst World War, theDirty Thirties andDepression years saw migration away from bankrupt farms and towards a hope of employment in the cities. The socio-economic changes brought about by theSecond World War and the industrial revolution saw a shift from rural life to urban living. Saskatoon was not only a centre for theBritish Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the 1940s, but also became a major regional distribution and service centre. Saskatoon experienced a severe shortage of residential dwellings between 1945 and 1960.^[10]

During the 1960s, the CN railway yards were relocated toChappell Drive, making room for the Idylwyld Freeway andMidtown Plaza in the first SaskatoonDowntown revitalisation project.

In 1906, the boundaries of Saskatoon were Clarence Avenue to the east, Taylor Street to the south, Avenue P to the west, and 33rd Street East to the north. This area is roughly the same as thecore neighborhood suburban development area. These boundaries remained basically the same for approximately 40 years until Saskatoon reached financial stability duringWorld War II.^[13][14]

The following suburban development areas saw neighbourhoods developed between 1940 and 1980:Nutana SDA on the east side; on the west sideConfederation SDA andLawson SDA.

In 1955,Montgomery Place and in 1956 the neighbouring town ofSutherland wereannexed by the quickly growing City of Saskatoon^[15] This growth continued until the mid-1980s.

In 1992,Bret Hart defeatedRic Flair for theWWE Championship in Saskatoon’sSaskatchewan Place.

Technological,educational andcultural amenities also expanded to meet the increased demand in this growing city.

Saskatoon's first growth spurt gained Saskatoon the nickname Hub City, whereas the latest growth phenomenon has been termed Sask-a-boom. The 10-year capital deficiency discussion paper for 2007–2016 has recently been updated for 2007. The new priority for the civic government are infrastructure needs and proposed new capital projects for the population increases and for the physical geographical growth.

The phenomenal retail sector increase, new neighborhoods and communities place a demand upon the city to provide additional firehalls, transit buses, police headquarters, libraries, water plants, electrical power plants, bridges, interchanges and roadways. Brookside, Rosewood, Stonebridge, The Willows, Willowgrove, University Heights Suburban Centre, Hampton Village, Hudson Bay Industrial, Marquis Industrial, Blairmore Suburban Centre, and another 10 unnamed proposed neighborhoods are being developed or are currently under construction.^[16]

A further annexation of extensive areas to the north, northeast and east of the city took place in July 2010.^[17]

On August 24, 2010, the Traffic Bridge, which symbolized the uniting of Saskatoon, Nutana and Riversdale into one city, was closed indefinitely due to structural integrity concerns were raised.^[18] In 2011, the city council decided to replace the iconic bridge, which was completed and opened to the public on October 3, 2018.^[19]

Saskatoon became a city with the amalgamation with the above three communities, however the current size of Saskatoon has meant that the geographical presence of Saskatoon has encompassed several other early communities.

• North Saskatoon is now known asNorth Park.^[21]
• West Saskatoon was a post office from 1900, which changed its name to Saskatoon in 1902. This area is currently referred to as theCentral Business District.^[22]
• Chappell was a CNR station west of Saskatoon, located near the present-day location ofMontgomery Place.
• There was also a community known as Brownell near North Saskatoon; it was located near present-day 51st Street and Miners Avenue, in the present-day neighborhood ofHudson Bay Industrial.^[23]
• McNab Park was built 1967 as aRoyal Canadian Air Force station and is located in theAirport Business Area. It has been used as a low-income housing development for many years.^[24] The community was decommissioned and dismantled in 2011–2012 and is being redeveloped as a business park.
• The "Magic City" of Factoria is now the neighborhood ofSilverwood Heights. Billy Silverwood, a horse breeder and spring water bottler, owned land 2 miles (3 km) north of the 1912 Saskatoon city limits. The enterprises of horse breeding and bottling water, where an uncontaminated water supply was needed, were not a good combination. R.E. Glass, aChicago entrepreneur, had a vision of an industrial community and purchased the Silverwood Bottling Company. He foresaw extending the rail line to service factories, breweries, flour mills, and expanded bottling works. The rail line came in 1913, and the beginnings of businesses lined the track, howeverWorld War I and the coming of electricity in 1918 made the venture unsuccessful.^[25]
• Caswell Hill was a hill located in thehomestead of Robert Caswell; it was developed as Saskatoon's first suburb and is prominent in early photographs of the west side of Saskatoon.
• Crescent Heights was a proposed subdivision from 1912. It would have been located five miles (8 km) from the Saskatoon city limits, at the location of Battleford Trail Road, which remains outside the city limits to this day.^[26]
• West of Saskatoon were a number of CNR and CPR stations closely spaced together along their parallel tracks. The closest was Yorath, on the CNR line just west of the river, near Yorath Island and approximately where the landfill is located today. Garfield was the closest CPR station, approximately where the present-day neighbourhoods ofFairhaven, Saskatoon andParkridge, Saskatoon are located. About three miles (5 km) farther out were Cory (CPR), Farley (CNR), and Eaton (CNR branch line towardVanscoy), in approximately a north-south line; Eaton was renamed Hawker, as the post office was confused withEatonia, and is now the location of theSaskatchewan Railway Museum. Eaton was also used briefly as aUkrainian Canadian internment duringWorld War I.^{[27][28][29][30]}
• Smithville Cemetery is just west of Saskatoon onHighway 14 just west of the city, although it is now within the city limits.
• East of Saskatoon, Newcross (north of Grasswood, earlier called South Saskatoon) and Duro were CNR stations between Saskatoon andClavet, while Engen andFloral were east of Saskatoon on the CPR line.^{[21][31][32][33]}
• In 1904, the Grand Trunk Railway GTR built a station named Earl 3 three miles (5 km) south of the boundaries of Saskatoon at that time. This is presently theCN Industrial area.^[4]

^[35][36]

Currently Saskatoon is considered to be located encompassing townships 36 and 37, range 5 and township 36, range 6, west of the Third Meridian. (See alsoDominion Land Survey – Each township is a 6-mile (10 km) square.)^[35][37]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHistory of Saskatoon.

• Saskatoon Gen Web Project – Saskatoon Dominion Land Grants Original Homesteaders Townships 36, 37. Ranges 5,6. West of the Third Meridian
• Populace Spring 2006
• City of Saskatoon – City Planning
• City of Saskatoon: Departments · Community Services · City Planning · ZAM Maps
• saskMAPS.ca Saskatoon interactive growth map
• The Saskatoon Heritage Society old site
• The Saskatoon Heritage Society new website
• Saskatoon Heritage Guide*City of Saskatoon – Departments – Community Services · Development MUNICIPALLY DESIGNATED HERITAGE PROPERTIES
• Saskatoon Gen Web Project – Narratives of Saskatoon 1882–1912
• Pick, Harry (1928),Next Year A semi-historical account of the exploits and exploitations of the far-famed Barr Colonists, who, led by an unscrupulous Church of England parson, adventured deep into the wilderness of Canada's great North-West in the early days of the twentieth century. Toronto: theRyerson Press

• History of Saskatoon

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use Canadian English from December 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in Canadian English
• Use mdy dates from December 2023
• Commons category link is on Wikidata