The Years Gull Lake Became a Town: 1911–1912

A Short History Story

Some years leave only faint traces in history. For Gull Lake, 1911 was nearly one of those years, but change was quietly gathering.

The records from that year are sparse: routine business, familiar local names, and just two notable decisions—the first grading of Proton Avenue, then the town’s emerging main thoroughfare, and the purchase of a hose cart. Yet beneath that quiet surface, the community was preparing for something larger.

Sometime late that year, though the records are silent about the exact moment, Gull Lake officially became an incorporated town.

1912: The Town Takes Shape

The first meeting of 1912 opens with a full town council:

Mayor E.H. Busse, along with councillors James Ferguson, C.H. Chaston, A.K. Markuson, A.H. Thomas, Wilbur George, and George Estabrooks—a councillor remembered for planting many of the trees that still shade our streets.

Town structure formed quickly.

E.E. Spackman became secretary‑treasurer.

Walter Swan, a thirty‑seven‑year‑old local resident, was appointed chief of police and licence inspector, complete with a uniform, handcuffs, and newly built cells behind the fire hall.

Local merchants soon petitioned council for an early-closing bylaw.

Council also approved borrowing up to five thousand dollars to finance the year.

But 1912 would prove anything but quiet, as the town took bold new steps.

Electricity and Expansion

Electricity became the year’s most ambitious undertaking. After early discussions, council granted Joseph Hutchinson, the town’s first overseer, a fifteen‑year franchise to install a power plant. The agreement required at least twenty streetlights, lit nightly until midnight—except on bright moonlit nights.

Meanwhile, Gull Lake’s population had surged past twelve hundred, prompting council to expand the town’s boundaries by eighty acres to the south.

Sports, Land, and Community Life

Recreation was a priority for the growing town. Block 28 had long served as a ballpark, but the community wanted more. Council purchased land for a fairground and later sold Block 28 to George Sharp for five hundred dollars, tax‑free for five years as long as it remained a ballpark. Many still remember the board fence and the high‑calibre teams that played there.

Soccer also thrived, carried by British immigrants who brought their national game — and their skill — to the prairie.

Licences, Census Battles, and Local Characters

A liquor licence for Mr. Youngberg was approved after a census confirmed a population over one thousand. Later in the year, council ordered another census, rejected the results, and launched an investigation—the outcome is lost to time (though local legend suggests the numbers may have been a touch… enthusiastic).

A new constable, Baxter—likely the memorable Jim Baxter, known for his imposing stature and clay pipe—replaced Swan, adding his own colourful chapter to early town life.

Land, Education, and the Cost of Progress

The town purchased the five‑acre cemetery for seventy‑five dollars per acre—land first measured out in 1906 by Wm. Green and “Scotty” Birnie (a personal note: “Scotty” Birnie was my great-grandfather) — and acquired twenty acres from W.A. Moat for what became Gull Lake’s first true sports ground.

Taxes were set at ten mills for municipal purposes and eight mills for school purposes—the first time the town formally assumed responsibility for education.

A ten‑thousand‑dollar debenture was sold to Curran Bros., netting nine thousand one hundred dollars. As the record notes:

“Money was almost as expensive then as now.”

A Town Becoming Itself

In just two years, Gull Lake shifted from a quiet rural settlement to a confident young town—expanding its boundaries, lighting its streets, building sports grounds, and shaping the civic structures that would guide it for decades to come.

These were the formative years when Gull Lake truly became itself.

Blake Campbell

Source: Gull Lake Memories: A History of the Town of Gull Lake