Lloydminster

Sister cities

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History

Intended to be an exclusively British utopian settlement centred on the idea of sobriety, Lloydminster was founded in 1903 by the Barr Colonists, who came directly from the United Kingdom. At a time when the area was still part of the North-West Territories, the town was located astride the Fourth Meridian of the Dominion Land Survey. This meridian was intended to coincide with the 110° west longitude, although the imperfect surveying methods of the time led to the surveyed meridian being placed a few hundred metres (yards) west of this longitude. The town was named for George Lloyd, an Anglican priest who would become Bishop of Saskatchewan in 1922. Lloyd was a strong opponent of non-British immigration to Canada. During a nearly disastrous immigration journey, which was badly planned and conducted, he distinguished himself with the colonists and replaced the Barr Colony's leader and namesake Isaac Montgomery Barr during the colonists' journey to the eventual townsite. The town developed rapidly: by 1904, there was a telegraph office as well as a log church; in 1905, the Lloydminster Daily Times started publication and the first train arrived on July 28. Its main north–south street, today named Meridian Avenue (or 50th Avenue), along which stores, businesses and the post office began locating, was situated right on the Fourth Meridian, although the actual road right-of-way was located in Saskatchewan. To comply with temperance principles, alcohol was not available in Lloydminster for the first few years after its founding. Beginning in 1900, calls for provincial autonomy in Western Canada grew, including from Frederick Haultain and James Hamilton Ross, two members of the Legislative Assembly of the North-West Territories. Haultain and Ross initially proposed that…

Geography

The provincial border runs north to south, falling directly on 50th Avenue (Meridian Avenue) in the centre of Lloydminster. Meridian Avenue north of the Yellowhead Highway (also named 44th Street) remains the main downtown street for stores, offices and businesses, with some also located on the intersecting east–west streets. Addresses east of 50th Avenue are considered to be in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan and addresses west of 50th Avenue are considered to be in Lloydminster, Alberta. The city is bordered by the County of Vermilion River, Alberta, on the west, the Rural Municipality (R.M.) of Britannia No. 502, Saskatchewan, on the northeast and the R.M. of Wilton No. 472, Saskatchewan, on the southeast. The majority of the large retail properties serving the city, including larger stores, gas stations and hotels, are located in its Alberta portion, in particular along the Yellowhead Highway west of Meridian Avenue and along the Alberta side of 50th Avenue south of the Yellowhead Highway. Lloydminster's distinctive situation is reflected in other legal matters, including its time zone. Most of Saskatchewan does not observe daylight saving time, instead staying on Central Standard Time year-round. However, Alberta mandates daylight saving time. Lloydminster's charter allows the city to follow Alberta's use of daylight saving time on both sides of the provincial border in order to keep all clocks within the city in synchronization. This has the effect of placing Lloydminster and the surrounding area in the Mountain Time Zone along with Alberta. During the summer therefore, the entire city is on UTC−06:00—Mountain Daylight Time, which is the same as the rest of Saskatchewan where the time is defined as Central Standard Time. During the winter, Lloydminster is on…