H O ME t o w n R E F L E C TIONS . . . . .
Summer started slowly that year. On June 16, 1915, the mercury hit a chilly -3 Celsius to the great dismay of Saskatoon’s gardeners. But by July, the unseasonably cool weather had mostly passed, and August absolutely sizzled. Summer had come again. But that year Saskatoon was a city in crisis. Two years before, the Great Boom of 1912 had quite suddenly become the Great Bust of 1913. Unemployment skyrocketed. By 1915, 462 Saskatoon families—2,500 people, more than 1 person in 10—were on relief. The value of building permits issued by the city dropped to its lowest level ever. Construction had driven much of Saskatoon’s earlier prosperity, and by that summer the only major project still going on was the University Bridge. With the builder close to bankruptcy, things didn’t look too good for it, either.
Corner of 28th and Avenue C, Caswell Hill, 1914.
Photo: Local History Room – Saskatoon Public Library - LH 5254
Glib talk of “over by Christmas” had long since faded, and it was obvious to everyone that we were in for a long, hard war.
But Saskatoon’s economic woes were overshadowed by the Great War which had begun amid much patriotic fervour the previous August. Glib talk of “over by Christmas” had
SUMMER 2015
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