Prince Albert Historical Society
I often run across information which I find of interest, but find that there is insufficient content from which to write a complete column. The best way for me to share such information is to write a column including these bits and pieces. The first year after the end of the Second World War, 1946, was a pivotal year for the City of Prince Albert, and some of the bits and pieces of information I have gleaned from that year follow.
One of the biggest national stories from 1946 followed the defection in Ottawa of Igor Gouzenko in 1945. MacKenzie King established a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the level of Soviet espionage in Canada. One of the alleged spies was arrested in Prince Albert on February 15th as he stepped off a Canadian Pacific Airlines aircraft at the Prince Albert air field. Eric G. Adams had come to Prince Albert to enquire into a loan application by the cold storage plant. He had been identified by another suspect, Kathleen Willshire, and taken into custody by the R.C.M.P. Adams went on trial in Ottawa on October 15 for “breach of the Official Secrets Act in wartime years”. The Daily Herald reported in its October 23rd edition that Adams was acquitted by the jury. He still faced charges of conspiracy to communicate confidential information to Russia, and obtaining government documents. In the event the Crown chose not to pursue these charges further. His accuser, Willshire, was eventually convicted of charges against her.
On March 24th, City Council determined that action would be taken on a report submitted by the province’s deputy-fire commissioner. A review of the city’s hotels had led to recommendations that several steps be taken to improve fire safety in these establishments. These included turning window fire escapes into doors, closing off some stair cases, adding red exit lights in hallways, as well as including signage with suitable directions to fire exits. The hotels included in the provincial recommendations included the National, Broadway, Lincoln, Empress, Marlboro, Central, and Avenue hotels. The provincial report followed fire deaths in hotels in other Saskatchewan communities, including Saskatoon.
At the conclusion of the Second World War, the frigate HCMS Waskesiu was decommissioned. Commissioned June 14, 1943 and, due to another ship already bearing the name Prince Albert, was named after the nearby lake in the Prince Albert National Park and became Prince Albert’s adopted wartime frigate. A Prince Albert resident, Kenneth Wright, served on the Waskesiu.After the war, the bell was donated to the City of Prince Albert and, on November 20, 1946 a ceremony was held in the Armoury during which the bell was turned over to the safe-keeping of RCSCC Rawalpindi, the local sea cadet corps. On January 19th, 2001, the bell was transferred to the Prince Albert Historical Museum where it can be seen still by Museum visitors.
On March 19th, it was reported that City Council had adopted a “privy tax”. Residents who had outdoor toilets were to be charged fifty cents a month for each outdoor toilet ($6.00 per annum) to pay for the costs of night soil removal. This led to a number of petitions to have water and sewage services by the home owners on many streets. Alderman Marion Sherman later became known for her campaign in the 1950s to eliminate all outdoor toilets from the city. Her campaign led the mayor of the time, Dave Steuart, to call her his “privy councillor”.
At the beginning of 1946 the City Yards were located on Canadian National Railway property between Fourth and Fifth Avenues West between the railway tracks and Seventeenth Street. A recommendation to re-locate them to the east flat, near the Exhibition Grounds, was voted down in March by the Council. Their rationale was that the grounds would be too close to the Exhibition Grounds and a desirable residential site.
This proposal came back to Council at its first meeting in June, but was tabled for a week in order to give the aldermen an opportunity to view the site. This time the location was bounded by 10th Street East on the south side, 8th Street East on the north, the railway tracks on the east, and on a line half-way between 6th Avenue and the railway tracks. It was considered to be a favourable site as it was on a railway spur in an area designated as a heavy industrial site. In addition, some federal government buildings were available at the airport for which the city could negotiate and, if successful, could move to the property and utilise to house new equipment.
At the second Council meeting in June, petitions and personal presentations were heard by Council. The east end residents were concerned that location of the yards in that area would result in depreciation of their property values. They would prefer that the site be developed as a children’s playground instead.
At the end of 1946, the city yards remained in the west end on the Canadian National Railways property. It was not until March of 1947, after more than two years of discussion and after foregoing an offer to purchase the property of McDiarmid Lumber at 1701 Central Avenue, that the city yards were finally placed in the east end of the city. The site was approximately four acres in size, and one-half block south and slightly further west than the original site which had been suggested.
It was announced on October 21st, 1946, that the radio station, CKBI, had been sold. Central Broadcasting System Ltd. had been purchased by Central Broadcasting Ltd. (H.M. Sibbald, F.F. Rawlinson, and E.A. Rawlinson). Lloyd Moffatt had pioneered the radio station in the 1920s as 10BI with his partner, Robert Price. CKBI went on the air as a 100-watt station on January 3rd, 1934. The wattage was increased to 1000 in 1941, and to 5,000 in 1946.
In a ballot on June 27, a by-law for a $200,000 addition to the Prince Albert Collegiate Institute was approved by a vote of 322 to 21. Monies in the amount of $135,000 would be borrowed from the Electric Light Trust account, while a grant of $62,400 would be received from the federal and provincial governments for vocational training facilities. An eight room addition, with an auditorium/gymnasium and shops would be included in the addition to be added to the south end of the collegiate.
Total construction in Prince Albert for the year 1946 was $1,745, 281 ($30,600 in today’s terms), the highest it had been since the boom year of 1912. The only other years to that point when construction in the city had exceeded $1,000,000 was 1913 and 1928. The 1946 permits included 100 wartime houses, 388 other housing permits, an addition to the Rowe Block (corner of 13rg Street and Central Avenue), a concrete floor for J.R. Leach & Son blacksmith shop, renovation and remodelling of the Saskatchewan Fish Board building (unit block of 15th Street West), and a metal shed at 928 Central Avenue.
fgpayton@sasktel.net
