Shaunavon began in 1912, when the Canadian Pacific Railway bought land for a divisional point on its Weyburn-Lethbridge line, drawn mainly by the area's plentiful water. While people guessed where the tracks would go, temporary shacks sprang up around the Hipfner farm, and many early buildings were put on skids. On September 17, 1913, lots in the new townsite went on sale at Gull Lake. Some buyers had waited 13 days and 13 nights, and 370 lots sold within eight hours. Shaunavon was incorporated as a village on November 27, 1913.
The town grew fast enough to earn the nickname Boomtown. Within a year it had more than 700 people, and it became the first community in Canada to go from village to town in under a year. Early buildings included the Empress Hotel, later renamed the Shaunavon Hotel, and the Merchants Bank, and five grain elevators went up in 1913. The name is believed to blend Lord Shaughnessy and William Cornelius Van Horne of the CPR, though the evidence is inconclusive. The town's water became famous too. In 1939 the Royal Train carrying King George VI and Queen Elizabeth stopped for spring water, and the town's park gave it the nickname Oasis of the Prairies.
Agriculture and ranching have long been central to the economy, and lignite coal was mined nearby and used to heat homes. Oil was discovered in the region in 1952, bringing a population boom, and the oil industry remains prominent. The Great Western Railway, bought by local farmers and municipalities in 2004, still runs the shortline from its Shaunavon headquarters. The Boomtown Days Rodeo has been held every July since 1914, and the Shaunavon & District Music Festival dates to 1928.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Shaunavon, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.