The grocery department of Sample
Bros. store, the first store in Kerrobert, ca. 1912-13.
Town, pop 1,111, located in the west-central region of the province, N of Kindersley at the junction of Hwys 21, 31, and 51. Beginning in 1907, a great land rush was on as word spread that the CPR would be constructing a line through the district. People largely of British and German origins came to the area, and in early September 1910, the townsite was surveyed and the hillside lots put up for sale. The auctioneer was Tobias C. Norris, who would become the premier of Manitoba in 1915. Named for Robert Kerr, a CPR traffic manager based in Montreal who had retired in 1910, Kerrobert was a CPR divisional point and a trading centre for a large district. Additional land around the town was purchased for future development, and infrastructure and institutions were established in anticipation of a substantial boom which did not materialize. The development of the oil and gas industry in the 1950s diversified the area economy. Five pipelines run through the district, and there is a major pumping station at Kerrobert. Grain and livestock production, however, remains vital to the economy today. A landmark in the business district is the Hanbidge Building, which once housed the law offices of Robert and Jack Hanbidge. Robert Leith Hanbidge served on Kerrobert’s town council before becoming mayor; he went on to become the province’s Lieutenant-Governor from 1963 to 1970. Heritage properties in Kerrobert include: the former 1911 CPR station; the library, housed in a Bank of Commerce building dating to 1911; the 1914 water tower, one of only a few of its kind left in Saskatchewan; and the 1920 court house, designed by provincial architect Maurice Sharon.
David McLennan