Our president Jackie Schmidt joined CBC’s The Morning Edition earlier this week. Listen below to hear her interview and learn more about the new additions to the Cathedral Cultural Trailway, and how Regina residents can get involved:
Heritage Regina would like to introduce our new Social Media Associate, Nathaniel Hak!
Originally from Regina, Nathaniel is looking forward to learning more about Regina’s cultural and built heritage, and is excited to expand his knowledge of land-based heritage and the ecosystems found in our city. Nathaniel is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology at the University of Regina. This past spring, he completed a diploma in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation at Lakeland College in Vermilion, Alberta, where he managed social media for the School of Environmental Sciences, showcasing his program and the school, and served as a student member on the school’s Board of Governors. Nathaniel spent this past summer with Nature Saskatchewan as a Habitat Stewardship Assistant, engaging with Saskatchewan’s landowners to conserve wildlife habitat on the prairies. During his free time, you can usually find Nathaniel spending time with friends and family, enjoying the outdoors, or daydreaming about his next holiday.
Catalogue Homes: ‘Kit Homes’ that Built the Prairies
Credit: John Robinson
A century ago, with our flourishing farms and urban centers, there was a high demand for new homes. Designers and skilled trades people were in short supply. Eaton’s, Sears and Aladdin Homes shipped thousands of homes to the Prairies by rail and they were assembled by local labour.
Similar to the way we order online today, these kit homes could be ordered to exact specifications. Millwork, plumbing fixtures and even furniture could be included with your shipment.
Boom, Bust and Bullets: The History of the GM Plant in Regina
credit: Dale Johnson
Discover an important piece of Regina’s rich automotive history with Dale Johnson. Adapted from the lecture Boom, Bust and Bullets: The History of the GM Plant in Regina, part of the 2020 Lecture Series held at the Artesian.
The first death from Spanish flu in Regina was reported on Oct 7, 1918.
This article was originally published by the Regina Leader-Post on March 20, 2020. It is reprinted here with permission.
By Dale Edward Johnson
At first, people in Saskatchewan showed little interest or concern about reports of a new flu in other parts of the world.
The first cases were reported in Canada in July 1918, and it would be a few more months before cases were reported in Saskatchewan. As health authorities scrambled to try to reduce the number of people stricken, owners of automobiles in Regina were asked to help out. And they did.
As the summer of 1918 turned to autumn, there were more newspaper reports of the Spanish flu in cities in the eastern U.S. and Canada.
For example, on Oct.1, 1918, Regina’s Morning Leader newspaper reported there were 460 new cases in Philadelphia in the previous 48 hours, bringing the city’s total to 2,327 cases and 14 deaths.
By Oct. 3, the Leader reported that the Spanish flu was “rapidly spreading over (the) United States” and was in 43 of the 48 states.
Year 2 students at the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) worked with Kristen Catherwood from Heritage Regina to research and publish gee meeyo pimawtshinawnm ( It was a Good Life) – A Living Heritage Project. Read more
It was the end of the line for SaskPower’s Substation No. 2 on the 1900 block of Elphinstone Street. Built in 1930 by the Regina Light and Power Company, the substation made it possible to extend power services to developing neighbourhoods. The building was designed to fit in with its residential environment, a practice that was often used at the time. Read more
The Stokes Block was Constructed between 1905-1907 and started out as a commercial apartment building.
In 1920 it was succeeded by various Chinese merchants and restaurateurs. One of the most well-known was Yick Lee Lung Company general store, which opened in 1928. and would later become a confectionery until 1974. The building was occupied by Lang’s Cafe until April 4th, 2018 when it caught ablaze and burned to the ground.
It’s always a loss when we lose the tangible essence of our historic past.
This building is significant as a representation of Regina’s multicultural settlement and of the experiences of our Chinese-Canadian communities and how they contributed to our history.
There are countless untold tales and celebrations that lie within our city, buildings and the people that built them that have shaped the course of history in Regina.
With images by The Leader-Post and CTV Regina
Originally published on CBC.ca. Images found by SavedTheSpot.
Two women from Chicago are on a mission to solve the mystery of photos printed in Regina back in the 1940s that somehow found their way to a goodwill store in their city — and they’re hoping they can find the family in the long-forgotten photos
Maria Ochoa and Kimberly Dosamantes run an Instagram page called Saved the Spot, where they post pictures of bookmarks and other items found in thrift shops.
“Sometimes we just go to thrift shops and we look for old bookmarks,” to post on the page, said Dosamantes.
“I just like finding things that people left behind,” she added.
One day in a Chicago goodwill store, Ochoa said she was doing her usual book browsing for hidden gems to share on the page. Instead, she found something “even better.”
“I ended up finding this pack of pictures in the book,” said Ochoa.
There were several family pictures with a stamp on the back of the photos indicating the photos had been printed at TruLife Photo Co., located at 11th Avenue and Cornwall Street in Regina.
“We just decided to post them. Kim wanted to search to find the family [and see] if we can send these pictures to them, because we know they’re probably valuable to them,” said Ochoa.
Ochoa had discovered nearly a dozen photos.
Dana Turgeon, Regina’s historical information and preservation supervisor, said that most of the dozen photos appear to be from the 1940s. She says the clothing worn in the photos is very emblematic of that era.
“The woman in her wedding dress — it’s a very ’40s style of wedding dress,” said Turgeon.
Turgeon also said it seems like the woman in the photos is wearing outfits she would have had in her trousseau — a collection of clothing and linens a woman would keep for her marriage, a common custom in that era.
Turgeon hypothesizes that some of the photos depict the woman on the day after her wedding, heading out in her travelling clothes.
“She has a nice suit jacket on, a skirt and a shirt. It fits with that timeframe,” said Turgeon.
The photos were printed by TruLife Photo Co. in Regina, which was located at 2136 11th Ave., near the entrance to the Bay in the Cornwall Centre today.
TruLife was also listed as the photographer for the 1948 city council photo, said Turgeon.
In one photo, a man and woman are walking across a street, and a shop can be seen in the background with an awning that seems to read “Jolly’s Drugs.” There was a Jolly’s Drugs located at 1799 Rose St. back at that time.
There is also a picture where a man stands in front of a shop that seems to be called Cafe Cadillac, but it remains a mystery where that shop was located.
Turgeon said there doesn’t seem to be a café with that name in Regina from the same time period, but there is a town in Saskatchewan called Cadillac, approximately 240 kilometres away from Regina.
“We’re trying to really find anything about their family,” said Dosamantes.
The women posted the photos to Reddit in hopes of finding more information so they could send the pictures to the family.
“I would really love it if we could find the family of this woman, and the man,” said Dosamantes.
“My mom lost her wedding photos a long time ago, and she used to always talk about if she could just get them back, how happy that would make her.”
Dosamantes said she hopes by finding the family and returning these photos one day, she can pay it forward to another family who lost valuable keepsakes.
