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Heritage Fair Report
This year for my heritage fair I chose to do
my report on my dad’s home town Wapella. Wapella, Sask. is located on Sec. 9
west of the first meridian, 28 miles west of Manitoba-Saskatchewan border,
and 122 miles east of Regina.
I decided that I was going to do
Wapella for heritage fair because it is my dad’s home town and I wanted to
know more about it. Some of the facts you will find in this report will be
information about Ekiel Bronfman, whose descendants were the Bronfman’s who
own one of the richest business empires in the world and when it was
founded. There is even some old school rules for the teachers (which I think
should still be in place today). So read on and learn as much as you can
about this great small town.
The questions that I asked myself before I began my
research were:
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Who was the founder of Wapella and when was it founded?
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What did Wapella have for services when it was first
started?
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When was the first school built and what are some
interesting facts about the school?
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What is the population today?
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What does Wapella have for education and other services
today?
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What are some interesting facts about Wapella?
Wapella was founded in 1882 by
early settlers and in 1904 Wapella became a small town. In 2004 Wapella had
its centennial.
Some services like the first post
office was located in the section house in 1882 and Mr. Scoffman handled the
mail. Also in 1882 the pacific railway was installed. The trans-Canada
pipeline was later installed in 1960. Then in 1972 water and sewer was
installed.
The first school was built in 1896.
The second story of the building was the town hall and became the high
school later. My Grandpa Tom drove the school bus for 37 years and he was
also a mail courier for over 30 years.
The school rules for the teachers in 1896 were:
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Teachers each day would fill lamps and clean the
chimneys.
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Each teacher will bring a scuttle of coal for the day’s
session.
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Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the
individual taste of the pupils.
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Men teachers may take one evening each week for
courting purposes or two evenings each week if they go to church
regularly.
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After ten hours in school the teachers may spend the
remaining amount of time reading the Bible or other good books.
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Women teachers who marry or engage in un-seemly conduct
will be dismissed.
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Each teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly
sum of his earnings for his benefit during the declining years so that he
will not become a burden on society.
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Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form,
frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give
reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
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The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and
without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five
cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.
The population today is 427 and the
area population is 700.
For education today, Wapella has
one school, kindergarten to grade nine and then the students are bussed to
Moosomin. Wapella gets its water from its wells, they treat the water with
chlorine and magnesium and the rates are $22 per month (this includes
sewer). The garbage is picked up weekly. SaskTel supplies the telephone
service and Sask Power supplies the electricity and its natural gas is
supplied from SaskEnergy. Wapella’s law enforcement comes from a detachment
with 4 patrol cars and eight officers from Moosomin. The fourteen member
volunteer fire department takes care of the fire protection. There is also a
doctor’s office in town and in Moosomin.
Wapella has some local clubs like
Royal Canadian Legion, Lioness club, Lions club, Wapella curling club and a
Wapella recreation club. For recreation there is a 9 hole golf course with
sand and greens, a sports ground with four ball diamonds and a curling rink.
Some interesting facts about
Wapella are a man named John Heppner led 20 Jewish families to Wapella. A
man named Ekiel Bronfman, a Russian Jew, lived in Wapella for a short period
of time. Today the Bronfman’s control one of the world’s richest business
empires, Seagram’s. The first elections for mayor, council and school
trustees took place on December 14, 1903. In 1886 a dam was built. Coal was
discovered on the Emil Pranke farm, who was my great, great Uncle. In 1952
oil was discovered in the area and designated as the Wapella Oil Fields. The
average house price in Wapella today is $20,000-$40,000.
Well that’s my report. I hope
you’ve learned as much about Wapella as I did. Now maybe I can see who knows
more about Wapella’s history - my dad or me!! Any way, I learned a lot from
this report. What I liked the most though was the rules for the teachers. I
guess I can now say that Wapella is a small town with a BIG history!
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This
is a picture of the school I made it was the first Wapella school.
This
is a picture of my backboard.