Wildwood Neighbourhood

This subdivision is named after the Wildwood Golf Course.  Many of the streets bear names that were originally given to streets and subdivisions planned before the First World War.

Acadia

Acadia University, located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, dates from 1838, when the Nova Scotia Baptist Education Society founded Queen’s College.  First chartered in 1841, it became Acadia University in 1891.  It became non-denominational in 1966.

Agar

In Wildwood is named for Charles Dunning Agar (1882 – 1962), who settled in the Foral district east of Saskatoon in 1908.  He was president of the Grain Growers Association, the cooperative elevator local, and the Saskatoon Exhibition Board.  He was chairman of the Floral school to the provincial legislature in 1921 as a Progressive, he later crossed the floor to join the Liberals and was Speaker of the legislature from 1939 to 1944.

Avondale

The name was proposed for a subdivision before World War I.  It would have been south on Lorne Avenue beyond even the present city limits, about where the south west corner of the Willows Golf Course is now.  There is no particular significance to the name.

Beurling

Is probably named for Canadian pilot Sgt. George Fredrick “Buzz” Beurling of the RAF.  Born in Verdun, Quebec, he was an ace during the Second World War.  He was credited with shooting down 31 ½ enemy aircraft and was awarded the DSO, DFC and DFM.  His most important flights were in the defence of Malta.  He flew his last combat mission on December 30, 1943, when he shot down a German fighter.  He later transferred to the RCAF as a flight lieutenant.  After the war, he was recruited by the Israeli armed forces.  He was killed in a plane crash en route to Israel in Italy May 20, 1948.  He was later reburied in Israel.  He has been named to Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame.

Boychuk

Bears the name of Mike Boychuk (1908-1992).  Mr. Boychuk was an Eatonia farmer who moved to the city for the winter of 1945-46.  He built a house for his family to live in but sold it before it was completed.  The next summer, he built six houses.  He sold them all, and his construction company was born.  Boychuk became a major home builder and real estate developer in Saskatoon and Prince Albert.  Mr. Boychuk owned some of the land that East College Park is built on.

Circle Drive

Encircles the whole city but for the lack of a bridge and connecting roads in the southwest.  The idea of the roadway is to divert traffic away from congestion in the city centre.  Other “ring road” concepts for Saskatoon date from as early as 1913, when it was proposed by then city commissioner Christopher Yorath.

Haight

Is named for the Haight family.  William Perry Haight (1874-1955) came to the Floral district from Iowa in 1910.  His brother, Ralph Haight (1903-1983), who was also born in Iowa, came to Hawarden with his family in 1918, moved to the Saskatoon area in 1933, and finally settled near Floral in 1936.  His Floralview Farm became one of the most successful dairy operations in the area.  He served on the board of Floral United Church and the Saskatoon East School Unit.  He was a councillor of the RM of Cory from 1943 to 1951, president of the Saskatchewan Dairy Association, and a member of other farm groups.  He belonged to the Saskatoon Rotary Club.

Highbury

Has the name of one of the subdivisions planned in 1912.  Highbury Park would have been on the West side between Avenues P and W north of 29^th Street.  There is no special significance to the name.

Highlands

Has the name of one of the subdivisions planned in 1912.  Highlands would have been where the Kelsey Industrial Area is now, north of 38^th Street between Idylwyld Drive and 7^th Avenue.

Holland

Is named for Percy Holland, farmer and reeve of the RM of Cory from 1938 to 1948.  He retired to Victoria.

Leland

Has the name of one of the 1912 subdivisions that was never developed.  Leland Park would have been west of today’s Parkridge subdivision.  The significance of the name is unknown.

McKercher

Is named after the McKercher family who developed part of the East College Park subdivision.

Meglund

Named after two streets that were previously laid out but never developed.  Meglund Avenue would have been in the planned Parkdale and University Heights subdivisions on the east bank of the river north and south of the CPR line.  In 1975 a Meglund Crescent was planned for Meadowgreen, but that did not happen either.  The name was finally used in Wildwood.  No definitive origin could be found for the name, but it might be named for Governor General Lord Minto.

Parkdale

Is named for a proposed 1912 subdivision.  Parkdale would have been north of the CPR bridge on the east bank of the river.

Penryn

Is named after the proposed subdivision of 1912, Penryn Park, which would have been between Avenue H and P and 46^th and 51^st streets.  The origin of the name could not be found.

Rosedale

Proposed name of a 1912 subdivision that would have been where the SEDCO Industrial subdivision is now south of 11^th Street West.

Schwager

Is named for Paul Gerhardt Schwager (1886-1963).  Born in Minnesota, he came to Dundurn in 1905 and moved to Saskatoon in 1927.   He was an expert trapshooter, loved hunting, was one of the original members of the Nutana Curling Club and the Saskatoon Gun Club, played hockey and baseball, was a Mason and a member of the Kiwanis Club.  Mr. Schwager was part owner of the Quakers hockey club in the early 1950s.

Sylvian

According to city records, they use the name of a subdivision proposed in 1912.  The 1912 subdivision, however, was spelled Sylvan View.  It was going to be about where the Dutch Growers Subdivision is now in Sutherland.

Tait

Probably named for Hugh Tait.  He first came to Saskatoon as manager of the local Winnipeg Paint and Glass outlet in the 1930s and later worked for Sterling Distributors for 35 years.

Mr. Tait was heavily involved in several sports.  He played on a Winnipeg team that won the Western Canadian Junior Football championship in 1927, was one of the founders of the Hilltop club in 1947, and was its president in 1948.  He was on the committees for five national track and field championships held in Saskatoon and was treasurer of the Knights of Columbus indoor games for seven years.  In 1945 he was the founding president of the Saskatoon Five Pin Bowling Association.  In 1971 he was one of those who worked on the Canada Winter Games.  Mr. Tait received the Kinsmen Club’s Sportsman of the Year award in 1964, and both the Kiwanis Club’s Kiwanian of the Year award and B’nai B’rith’s “We’re Proud of You” award in 1971.  He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame as a builder in 1975.  In 1976 he received the SaskSport merit award and in 1977 he was made a life member of the Saskatoon Hilltops.  He died in 1980.  He was posthumously inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.

Taylor

The street appeared on city maps at least as early as 1912, but its origin is unknown.

Tennant

The name in Wildwood was the third attempt to use the name.  The first Tennant Street was laid out but never developed during the boom years.  According to the 1912 city maps, it was to run through the Fairview, Parkview and Perthshire Heights Subdivisions in the area that the SEDCO Industrial Park and Holiday Park golf course occupy now.  The second Tennant Crescent was to have been in Meadowgreen in 1975, but it was not used.  The name was finally used in Wildwood.  The origin of the name could not be found.

Willoughby

Replaces the original street of that name in Idylwyld.  It ran parallel to the southern end of Poplar Crescent, and disappeared when the freeway was built.  The name remembered Dr. John Henry Charles Willoughby (1861-1957), who was born in Cobourg, Canada West (Ontario).  He was Saskatoon’s first postmaster and storekeeper as well as the community’s doctor and a member of the first public school board.  He served with the militia at Fish Creek and Batoche in 1885.  He studied in Europe, then went to Regina, where he was mayor in 1892.  He moved back to Saskatoon in 1897 and practised medicine until 1905, when he entered the insurance, loans and real estate business full time.  His house at the top of Willoughby’s Hill (Pleasant Hill) became the first St. Paul’s Hospital in 1907.

Dr. Willoughby was owner of the Phenix and was partner in the first Saskatoon telephone company.  He and his partners put up several downtown office buildings and developed both the Riversdale and Idylwyld subdivisions.  They were, respectively, the least and most expensive properties in Saskatoon at the time.  He was a city alderman in 1907-08 and 1910-11.  Along with C.T. Falkner and S.A. Clark, he was one of the founders of the first Anglican parish in the city.  It is probable that Hilliard, Isabella and Adelaide streets in Nutana are named after members of his family.

Source:  “Saskatoon’s History in Street Names” John Duerkop