When Ukrainian people arrived by train in Yorkton in 1897, they had come West to take free homesteads. Yorkton by then was already a large village, and the homesteads of surrounding municipalities had mostly been taken beginning in 1882 by Ontario, British and American farmers and some Hungarians. Some land in nearby areas was still available and Ukrainians settled what they named the Jaroslaw district, 9 miles southwest of Yorkton. They built a church there in 1903. A great majority of Ukrainian settlers found homesteads further in the surrounding regions; Kamsack area, Preeceville, Stenen, Canora, Sturgis, Arran, Norquay, Pelly, Wroxton, Theodore, Ituna, etc.
Over time, many moved in villages, towns and into Yorkton. By 1955, the growth of Yorkton's Ukrainian Catholic population brought the Redemptorists to add an east wing to St. Mary's church.
Happy 100th year Celebration of the building of the church!
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince, Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North,
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722 [email protected]
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