Weyburn

City

City of Weyburn

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Nickname(s): The Opportunity City

Motto: "Vision, Achievement, Progress"

Weyburn

Coordinates: 49°39′40″N 103°51′9″W / 49.66111°N 103.85250°W

Government

• Mayor

Marcel Roy

• Governing Body

Weyburn City Council

• MP

Ed Komarnicki (CPC)

• MLA

Dustin Duncan (SP)

Area

• Total

15.78 km² (6.09 sq mi)

Elevation

561 m (1,841 ft)

Population (2011)

• Total

10,484

Website

City of Weyburn

Weyburn is the ninth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is on the Souris River 110 kilometres (68 mi) southeast of the provincial capital of Regina and is 70 km (43 mi) north from the North Dakota border in the United States. The name is reputedly a corruption of the Scottish "wee burn," referring to a small creek. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Weyburn No. 67.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) reached the future site of Weyburn from Brandon, Manitoba in 1892 and the Soo Line from North Portal on the US border in 1893. A post office opened in 1895 and a land office in 1899 in anticipation of the land rush which soon ensued. Weyburn was legally constituted a village in 1900, a town in 1903 and finally as a city in 1913. From 1910 until 1931 the Weyburn Security Bank was headquartered in the city.

Weyburn had since become an important railroad town in Saskatchewan – the Pasqua branch or the Souris, Arcola, Weyburn, Regina CPR branch; Portal Section on the CPR / Soo Line; Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Shaunavon, Lethbridge CPR section; the Brandon, Marfield, Carlyle, Lampman, Radville, Willow Bunch section of the Canadian National Railway (CNR); and the Regina, Weyburn, Radville, Estevan, Northgate CNR section have all run through Weyburn.

Weyburn was previously home to the Souris Valley Mental Health Hospital, which was closed as a health care facility and sold in 2006, and demolished in 2009. When the mental hospital opened in 1921, it was the largest building in the British Commonwealth and was considered to be on the cutting edge of experimental treatments for people with mental disabilities. The facility had a reputation of leading the way in therapeutic programming. At its peak, the facility was home to approximately 2,500 patients. The history of the facility is explored in the documentary Weyburn: An Archaeology of Madness.

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Wikipedia