Vonda

Town, pop 322, located approximately 45 km NE of Saskatoon on Hwy 27. People were settling the district in the 1890s, and with the construction of the Canadian Northern Railway through the area (in 1904–05) the community developed: Vonda was incorporated as a village in 1905 and became a town in 1907. Although the district was multicultural (the region included Mennonite, Ukrainian, Polish, Hungarian, and British settlers), Vonda, along with the communities of Prud’homme and St. Denis, reflected a significant French presence. While English language education was transferred to the town of Aberdeen in the mid-1960s, Vonda retains the École Providence, a K–10 French language institution. Developing as a service centre for the surrounding agricultural district, Vonda’s population grew to over 400 by the early 1930s. Over the following decades, however, the community declined, its numbers falling to close to 200 by the early 1960s. Subsequently, the town experienced renewed growth, partly owing to commuters working in Saskatoon who took up residence in the town. As well, an agricultural equipment manufacturer brought many much-needed jobs to the community. Two structures have been designated heritage properties: the former Bank of Commerce, dating to 1906; and the Vonda Rink, housed in an aircraft hangar that was built in the early 1940s at the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan base in Davidson.

David McLennan