Loverna SK Then & Now (x2)

Here’s a Then & Now that was somehow lost for a time, one shot back in 2017 that till now has ever seen the light of day. Presenting not one, but two of these wonderful comparison studies, the subject Loverna Saskatchewan, a near ghost town. The first takes us back perhaps a few decades and shows one corner of the community and the change that’s taken place. The second set spans maybe a hundred years and looks at downtown in a more broad view and how it’s differed over that time. Let’s say the transformation has been dramatic. On a street once bustling with life in a town with a future bright, today it’s the odd building left, vacant lot after vacant lot and precious little else.

While it’s taken a record amount time for these to be published (even by our sloooow standards), we’re certain you’ll enjoy them and consider the wait well worth it.

The first “then” shows two buildings just off Main Street, the Monarch Garage and Legion Hall. These are from 1917 and 1946 respectively. We know not the date of the first photo, but we suspect it’s fairly contemporary, our guess being the 1970s-1980s period.

Loverna SK Then & Now (x2): twice the fun! Better late than never with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)

The Monarch stood until recently, but the pumps seen in front were long gone before that. These appear to be 1950s models and presumably the business had those gravity fed pumps earlier. What a fine looking building it was and that sign! Interestingly there was a road running past the Monarch, which appears to have been well used, which is no longer there now.

Scroll down for photos and to comment.

It’s clear the business had been shut down for a time in the original photo. The White Rose brand of gas ceased to be available after the mid-1960s, so the Monarch may have closed sometime before. An ancient poster in the Loverna Community Hall shows the garage offered “genuine Ford parts”.

The second building is the Canadian Legion (Sask branch #91). It remained in use into the 2000s (wow) when it was said to have a membership of about twenty but now is closed. Suspect all the old timers simply died off. From the Saskatchewan Legion Website: “Over the years, the Loverna Legion has taken an active part in the Loverna Community by showing picture shows, helping maintain the Loverna Cenotaph, having Remembrance Day Services, holding Christmas Parties, putting on Golf Tournaments, having Mothers’ Day Breakfasts, holding card tournaments, both Whist and Kaiser and attending funerals for deceased Veterans and Legion members.”

These two pics lined up pretty nice!

The “then” photo was sent anonymously by a reader and had no accompanying information other than it once belonged to a deceased family member. When this happens it sets off an alarm and so we do some research in case it’s not theirs to share. Here we could not find a copyright, so it may be open to challenge. We always strive to have proper permission when publishing these and if our readers know something, please speak up an we’ll address the matter.

The second sets shows “downtown” Loverna with the “then” coming from our fiends at Priaire-Towns.com. This one is in the public domain. The old photo shows a lively (and muddy) street lined with many businesses and if you look close you can see a good number of people. This was when Loverna was happening! Before the long slow decline. We’re not sure the date, but sometime around 1920 would be a reasonable guess. The town dates from the early 1910s, incidentally, when the railway came through.

At the end of Main, where it meets 1st Avenue (what, no Main & Railway?) it’s the Grand Trunk Pacific station (Canadian National after 1920-ish) and the Security Grain Elevator. Both buildings date back to the town’s founding. Security had a modest network of elevators on the prairies and ceased to be as a company in 1929 when it was bought out by a competitor. To see the last Security Elevator still standing, at Calgary’s Heritage Park, go here: For Jim….

The car on the left might be a mid-1910s or earlier Ford Model T. On close inspection there looks to be a wagon and horse team further back hiding in the shadows same side of the street.

Fast forward to today and it’s a street devoid of life. What change! Most of the buildings of old have been torn down over the years with others being lost to fire. The few left standing include what was a general store and a laundry. Scattered about are plaques marking the location of business and such that today are empty lots. It’s amazing how much used to be here – jewellery stores, banks, liveries, hardware stores, cafes, pool halls, hotels and so much more.

The sloped-roof building seen today could not be made out in the old photo. Is it hidden by the clutter, unrecognizable due to the pic being fuzzy, or did it come later? In any case, we’re not convinced this T&N was lined up well. Had to guess given we had no solid reference points.

The trains stopped running in the 1980s and by then, the town had but a handful of people. Today, the full time population can be described with the words “a few”. Here’s a post showing the town in more detail: Forgotten Prairie Loverna (note, we had permission to go into some buildings which otherwise are closed.) In addition the community also makes an appearing is this fantastic film (starring Team BIGDoer – YEAH!!!!): Forgotten Prairie.

And the truck? Because it’s big, it’s old (1940s) and most of all because it’s YELLOW!

Many of the then photos used in these articles are supplied by our readers. If you have a picture you think would be good fodder for a T&N, message us. The only consideration is they need to be your photos (you hold copyright) or be in the public domain (many real old photos are). If unsure, we can help.

And wouldn’t you know, on finding this forgotten Then & Now, we discovered a few others from that same year that have never been seen before. Isn’t that cool? And doesn’t it speak of how rotten our memory has become? We can recall with great clarity what we did on March 27, 1981, but can’t recall a thing we did yesterday. Stay tuned for these. It’s nice to get back into the swing of things with this ongoing series. We ignored them for a time.

If you visit Loverna, please show the old town respect. Take only photos and remember some people live there, so give them their space. If we all follow common sense rules, places like this will be around for us to all enjoy for a long time. Loverna, and all our vanishing prairie towns, are a treasure to be protected.

Till the next Then & Now, here’s to fun & adventure!

They’re saying…

”They have no fear when it comes to searching in remote areas, and they have an artistic eye for picture taking. It’s a very enjoyable site.” James Robinson.

More like this..
Stettler Alberta Then & Now: Stettler Hotel – that’s one cool place!
Calgary then and now – Civil Defence – duck & cover!
Calgary then and now – Miles for Millions – sore feet time.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date of Adventure: April, 2017.
Location: Loverna, SK.
Article references and thanks: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan, CNR archives, Saskatchewan Legion, casual conversations with locals.

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Loverna SK Then & Now

Loverna SK, unknown date & 2017.

Loverna Saskatchewan Then & Now

And here circa 1920 and again 2017.

Legion Hall Loverna SK

The old Legion Hall.

Downtown Loverna SK

The last buildings in downtown.

Loverna SK Signs

Marking what used to be.

Loverna SK Truck

It’s big, it’s old, it’s YELLOW!

48 responses

  1. Loverna Kaye Hartley says:

    Hi, My name happens to be Loverna. It’s a family name, supposedly made up be by Great Grandfather for my Grandmother who was born in the early 1900’s.We live in Southwestern Pennsylvania. I’m sure he never traveled from this area. He wanted a name with Love in it. I was shocked and intrigued to find a town in Canada with my name. I’ve read several articles about the town. I hope one day to get to visit. I happen to be a History Teacher and we are doing a Country Fair. My students choose Canada. Since none of them choose Saskatchewan, I decided to highlight the town of Loverna. I would love some pictures with the name “Loverna ” prominently displayed. It’s a shame what has happened to so many of the small towns. Thank you

    • Loverna? How fantastic! We have hundreds of well shot photos of Loverna and if you’d like to donate something to our history group (and it needn’t be much – any amount), we can go looking. I can’t guarantee results, however, but we won’t know till we try. Go to the “Help the Society” link.

  2. Lesley says:

    Also, my great grandad Vivian had the Co-op store in the 1930’s.

  3. Lesley says:

    My grandma was born in Loverna & was raised at Vivian Lake. (Her maiden name was Vivian lol). Also, my grandad (who married my grandma in 1937) went to school at Antelope Park Schoom & some of his relatives still live out by Loverna. We have family reunions in Loverna every few years as both sides of my mom’s family was from Loverna.

  4. Jill Ferguson says:

    We fool ourselves into thinking that life is permanent. Your pictures help me to further understand that all in life is transitory. The most important structures we build are the temples of love between persons. Thank you for generously sharing your pictorial journey through the by-ways.

  5. Eric May says:

    Not much left.

  6. Randy Fournier says:

    I think that a town is like love, either there, or not.

  7. Paul Delamere says:

    Grand Trunk Railway class E station.

  8. Fern MacGillivary Hornett says:

    It had a population of 2700 people at one time and was going to be the San Francisco of the North. A fire and the rail line bypassing the town were its downfall.

    • Maybe some confusion here. The railway line did not bypass the town and I don’t believe the population ever got that that big. There was fires, but that seemed common in the old days.

  9. Michael LeBaron says:

    Exactly why we need you resurrecting these lost times and places!

  10. Patricia Couture says:

    Wow, what a change.

  11. Simon Steffen says:

    I really look forward to every post. Thank you both.

  12. Jackie Boros says:

    A picture is worth a thousand words. Only a Historian could come up with them.

  13. Paul Giske says:

    Well, at least the town now has a streetlight; that’s gotta count for something…

  14. Brent Christensen says:

    Never realized there’s hardly anything left of Loverna…

    • The now photo doesn’t tell the whole story. There are additional buildings in town behind our position. Still, there’s way more empty lots than those with structures on them, by a wide margin.

  15. Rob Stokes says:

    Too many of these places lost… appreciate you bringing them back..

  16. Bud Winstanley says:

    Looks like the same way as Robsart Saskatchewan went when it was a thriving town at one time

  17. Lynne Harcourt says:

    It calls to my heart…

  18. Travis R Culbert says:

    Ouch that’s sad. Wish I had a time machine! It would be so much better to be able to travel back in time in small town Saskatchewan or Alberta than to go to Mexico in modern times.

  19. Bill Mills says:

    Got married there in 1972.

  20. Nick Koba Jr says:

    the hill in the back ground is that an old mine dump ?

    • Gravel for road maintenance. Every once in a while in the province you’ll come across a strategically placed pile like this along some backroad.

  21. Mark Jeffels says:

    Thank you so much for posting!

  22. Vic Wallace says:

    Wow. So many incredible disappeared places in Saskatchewan.

  23. Bill McCabe says:

    forlorn.

  24. Jenn says:

    Cool! Loverna was one of my fave places that I have visited. I think the Legion sign was gone from the front of the building when we visited a couple years ago.

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