Dundurn

Town, pop 596, located a 20-minute drive S of Saskatoon on Hwy 11. Canadian Forces Detachment Dundurn occupies approximately 902 km just to the west and northwest of the town. While there were a few pioneering ranchers in the region in the 1880s, the origins of the town date to 1902. Much credit for the founding of Dundurn is given to Emil Julius Meilicke and his sons, German immigrants from Minnesota. Meilicke was an entrepreneur who had served in the state senate; he was successful in inducing a number of his fellow Americans to settle in the Dundurn area. The Meilickes established a lumber and machinery business at Dundurn, and built a number of homes, four of which are still standing. By 1903, settlers were arriving in the Dundurn district in droves. Adding to the German component were people of British origins--both from eastern Canada and overseas--as well as a few Barr colonists, who abandoned that group in Saskatoon to come to the Dundurn area. In 1924, Mennonites would also arrive. Dundurn developed largely as an agricultural community; however, as the military base developed (it has origins dating to 1927), many residents found employment there. Today, many of its facilities and programs are available to the citizens of the town. In recent decades, Dundurn has also become home to a number of people who commute to work in Saskatoon. Three buildings in Dundurn—the Northern Bank building built in 1906, the Moravian Brethren Church built in 1910, and the former school built in 1916—have all been designated heritage properties.

David McLennan