Editing Lloydminster (section)

== History ==
[[Image:BarrColonists.jpg|left|thumb|Barr colonists in 1903]]

Intended to be an exclusively British [[utopia]]n settlement centred on the idea of [[sobriety]], Lloydminster was founded in 1903 by the Barr Colonists, who came directly from the United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library2.usask.ca/sni/stories/beg9.html|title=Saskatchewan's Top News Stories: Beginnings And Landmarks|publisher=Library2.usask.ca|date=1903-04-10|access-date=2017-04-30}}</ref> At a time when the area was still part of the [[Northwest Territories|North-West Territories]], the town was located astride the Fourth Meridian of the [[Dominion Land Survey]]. This meridian was intended to coincide with the [[110th meridian west|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nowiknow.com/the-town-in-saskatchewan-thats-also-in-alberta/|title = The Town in Saskatchewan That's Also in Alberta – Now I Know}}</ref>

The town was named for [[George Lloyd (bishop of Saskatchewan)|George Lloyd]], an [[Anglican Church of Canada|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,<ref>Shara Buchan. [http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/2ffa3/dd7cc/ History of Lloydminster] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304173624/http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/2ffa3/dd7cc/|date=2012-03-04}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barr colony |url=http://biographi.ca/en/topics/topic-match-list.php?id=1609 |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=Dictionary of Canadian Biography}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lloydminster History of Recreation and Cultural Activities Committee|title=75 years of sport and culture in Lloydminster : 1903-1978|year=1979|page=i|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=3572956}}</ref> 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.{{cn|date=December 2023}} To comply with [[temperance movement|temperance]] principles, alcohol was not available in Lloydminster for the first few years after its founding.{{Citation needed|date = August 2015}}

While provincehood of some sort for the prairie territories was seen as inevitable by 1903, it had been widely expected by some, including North-West Territories premier [[Frederick W. A. G. Haultain]], that only [[Province of Buffalo|one province]] would eventually be created instead of two. The colonists were not aware of the federal government's deep-rooted opposition to the creation of a single province, largely due to the power such a province would hold rivalling the [[Eastern Canada|east]],<ref>{{cite web |title=The Problems |url=https://buffalodeclaration.com/the-problems |website=Buffalo Declaration |access-date=9 July 2024}}</ref> nor plans for a provincial boundary along the Fourth Meridian (110° W).{{Citation needed|date = August 2015}}

When the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, the Fourth Meridian was selected as the border, bisecting the town right along its main street.<ref name="Encyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Herperger |first=Don |date=September 20, 2012 |title=Lloydminster |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lloydminster |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |accessdate=November 30, 2023}}</ref> Lloydminster residents petitioned for the new border to be revised so as to encompass the entire town within Saskatchewan, without success.{{Citation needed|date = August 2015}} Lloydminster functioned as two towns with separate municipal administrations until the provincial governments agreed in 1930 to [[Merger (politics)|amalgamate]] the towns into a single town under shared jurisdiction. The provinces, again jointly, reincorporated Lloydminster as a city in 1958.<ref name="Encyclopedia"/>

Commemorating Lloydminster's distinctive bi-provincial status, a monument consisting of four 100-foot survey markers was erected in 1994 near the city's downtown core.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bigthings.ca/alberta/lloyd.html|title=City of Lloydminster|publisher=Bigthings.ca|access-date=2017-04-30}}</ref>

The majority of Lloydminster's population lived on the Saskatchewan side until recent{{when|date=February 2024}} decades; in the [[2011 Canadian Census]], nearly two-thirds of the city's population lived on the Alberta side. In 2000, the [[Seat of local government|city hall]] and municipal offices were moved from Saskatchewan to an Alberta location on Meridian Avenue, also known as 50th Avenue, which runs along the Fourth Meridian.{{Citation needed|date = August 2015}}

Despite its bi-provincial status, Lloydminster was not exempted from anti-[[tobacco smoking|smoking]] legislation passed by the [[Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan]]. Citizens responded by initiating a referendum against the wishes of the mayor, as permitted in the charter, which resulted in the enactment of a citywide [[Smoking ban|anti-smoking bylaw]]. The matter became moot when Alberta enacted its own anti-smoking legislation, which was the solution that the mayor and council preferred.{{Citation needed|date = April 2017}}