Laflèche

History

The village of Buffalo Head started to form one and a half miles east of the present townsite with the arrival of settlers in 1905. The name was changed to Lafleche in honour of Louis-François Richer Laflèche. In 1910, a school district was formed and a school was built at the corner of four townships on a quarter of land owned by Mr. Belisle. In March 1912, there was already a hamlet set on a piece of land owned by F. X. Brunelle. There was a bank, two stores and blacksmith shops. In 1912, the railway was built to Expanse, then in the fall as far as Assiniboia. When the Canadian Pacific Railway line came through in 1913 lots were divided and businesses were quickly established. Since the rail line did not pass through the hamlet, the houses of the hamlet were moved to the new site on the southeast quarter of Section 2, Township 9, Range 5, and soon another village with spacious streets and avenues sprung up and developed rapidly. By 1913 there was the following businesses, Square Deal Store, Harness, Palace Livery, Beaver Lumber, Coal, Lafleche Cafe, Murphy's Pool Hall, Metropole Hotel, The Western Trading Co., Lafleche Meat Market, City Dray, City Garage, City Restaurant and Bakery, Glenholm Farm, Chopping, The Lafleche Blacksmith. Growth was so rapid that Lafleche was incorporated as a village in 1913. Telegraph service was established in Lafleche on December 1, 1913. By 1914 the village was composed of twelve blocks. In 1915, many new businesses opened up, Cockshutt Plow Company, a jewelry store, Wyman and Ball (clothing store), a drug store, three lumber yards, the Lafleche-Meleval Farmers Elevators, Purity Oil, Kennedy Grain, a livery and feed barn, Real Estate and Loan Office. In 1916 a millinery was opened up which made fur hats to order. Two other private…