The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
(Writer's note: although the Gibson family may not have been here as long as many other families, I felt that Doug has a great knowledge of the history of Creighton). In 1960 the Gibson family (Doug, Isobel and their four children David, Fraser, Bruce and Margaret) were living in Rocanville, Saskatchewan. Doug held many jobs all at the same time. He was the town clerk, the secretary treasurer for the local school as well as for the rural schools, secretary manager for the telephone company, was the manager of a business block and also sold insurance and licenses. Doug had reached the point where this was just too much and he began looking around for another job. The Department of Municipal Affairs knew of a town clerk position being advertised for Creighton, so Doug went to Winnipeg, hopped on a plane and landed at the Channing Airport. First impressions weren't that great. The area was very desolate. However, he took Joe's Taxi and went to the Flin Flon Hotel where he was met by a Mrs. Mullaney who was the present town clerk for Creighton and who arranged a meeting for Doug with the present Creighton Town Council. After a discussion on what Doug's qualifications were and what the Council expected of Doug, the Council inquired as to what it would take for Doug to move his family up to Creighton. Doug said he would think about the job for $400 per month, which in those days was a good salary. Doug returned to Rocanville and after much deliberation decided to take the job. So in October of 1960 the family moved to Creighton into the home that they are still living in today. When they first arrived in Creighton, there were no sidewalks or paved streets. There was no sewer and water. The wet and dry garbage was taken care of by Mr. Mullaney. There were only two employees at the Town Office, Mrs. Mullaney who stayed on for awhile, and Doug Gibson. Joe Waroway was the Town Constable. There was only one government office, which was the Department of Natural Resources and they shared an office in the Town Hall. The Mine Record Office, the Saskatchewan Government Office and the Vehicle Licensing Office were in Flin Flon. Creighton had a contract with the Manitoba Government for health services and the Town Office staff of Mullaney and Gibson looked after the welfare work that needed to be done. In 1960 Creighton Main Street was quite different than it is now. With a smaller population, there were many more businesses on Main Street. On the far right as a person is coming down Main Street from Creighton Avenue was the Creighton Hotel (now the Copperbelt) still standing, then there was a grocery store owned by a Mr. McKay, then the old Community Hall which has since burned down and been replaced with the new Community Hall, then Mike Skoronski has a dry goods store where Coutts' Convenience Centre is now, a vacant lot and then the old Town Hall. Across on 2nd Avenue was Andy's (Hoffman) Meat and Grocery that is now an apartment block, then Andy Skoronski's Hardware that is also an apartment block now, then Lofgren's which was also the post office and is now Reibin Agencies and then Pennywise (which was originally owned by Bill McFadden and called the Economy Store). On the other side of the street was a vacant lot that later became the liquor store and across 3rd Avenue was a barbershop and Joe's Pool Hall, another vacant lot which is now Creighton Furniture and Appliance Centre, another vacant lot and then Paul's Jewelry, (now CADAC and Seniors' Housing), then the Paragon Theatre (owned by the Playfair family) and at the corner of Main and Creighton was Derbowka's service station and across from that was another service station owned by Joe Fenner. Creighton School was in the same place that it is now, only it was quite a bit smaller. There was a curling rink where the seniors' building is now. In the early 60s the preliminaries were being worked out for the installation of sewer and water with HBMS who gave grants to Creighton in lieu of taxes. The sewer and water came into Creighton in 1961-1963, to the tune of just short of a million dollars. Later Metropolitan Security Service contracted with Creighton to bring in better policing and Bill Cardinal was hired through them. He started out with an office in the basement of the Town Hall that had one small cell. In 1968 with the change of the provincial government to Liberal and Ross Thatcher being Premier, he arrived in Creighton one day with a contractor and built a government office and the Department of Natural Resources moved in and the staff increased. The Vehicle Licensing Office was set up there, as well as public health nurses and social workers were hired. Also hired was a co-operative development man who promoted business and commercial development such as the logging industry as well as commercial fishing. Harry Ruse was hired as the Town's auditor. Angus Campbell ran the bus service that was later taken over by Northern Bus Lines. Doug also gave me some history of what was happening in Creighton, before the arrival of his family. He stated that in the late 40s the Department of Natural Resources did much of the administration of the area such as the leasing of lots along Creighton Avenue. The Saskatchewan Government had the lots surveyed and then the lots were sold for $150 each or leased for 20 years at $10 a year. Doug stated that in 1952 Creighton was incorporated into a Village and had a population of 1,200 at that time. The main reason for the increase in population was that there wasn't enough accommodation in Flin Flon for the men coming back from the war or for other people who came looking for work. Many modest homes were constructed during that time. When the Gibson family arrived in the 60s there was milk delivery to the homes from Frechette's Dairy. For entertainment Doug curled at the old Creighton Curling Rink. There was also a United Church on 1st Street West that the family attended, as well as the Paragon Theatre was going strong as well. There was fishing, camping and berry picking (while the kids complained, as this wasn't their favourite past time!). In 1965 Doug took a two year correspondence course through the University of Saskatchewan and the Department of Municipal Affairs and he said, "I worried through it." He got his diploma in local government administration with his Class C and later went on to get his Class A. Doug stated that in about 1970 both Flin Flon and Creighton were negotiating for shopping malls in their respective communities. Flin Flon had chosen the spot where Wal-Mart is now and Creighton had chosen the spot where McKeen's gravel pit is now. Creighton had intended to put government offices, stores and a motel there. Luckily "they" had only invested about $10,000 in the land when interest rates went up to 18% and the plans had to be scraped. Later, the Gourlays built their motel and restaurant, and a government insurance office was established on 1st Street East. Consequently in 1980, Creighton built their Town offices and a new fire hall. Things developed from two Town employees and one police officer to about 12 Town employees and four men working for the Department of Highways. The RCMP came in, around 1969-70, and had three police officers on staff. The old Liquor Board Store went from selling liquor to becoming the Gateway AA establishment. Liquor was sold in the Economy Store for awhile, then out of Creighton Hardware and out of the Seniors' Building for a short while till finally the new Liquor Board Store was built with a staff of three people. The industrial area went up in the late 70s. Many businesses came and went, such as Charlie Thurston's garage which is now Advance Auto but had several owners between those two. The Pepperpot was a drive-in restaurant originally owned by Bill Iwasyk and is now Creighton Pizza. There was a clothing store known as Royal Clothing where the CREDO offices are now. The government offices that were in Flin Flon moved to Creighton and the government bought the Bingo Palace. The Correctional Centre was operated for several years and recently was taken over by the Peter Ballantyne Band and became a Social Worker College. Seniors housing started on Elander in the early 80s and many duplexes were built, some with two bedrooms. Housing on Collins began to become a reality and homes are still going up today. The Northlands College has put through many students and was started in the 70s, with the head office once situated at Sandy Bay but due to staffing problems, the office was relocated to Creighton. The Northern Power supplied electricity from HBMS and in the 80s was changed over to Sask Power. The same happened with the telephone that was originally supplied by Manitoba Telephone and in the 80s was taken over by Sask Tel. In 1956 when Creighton was incorporated into a Town the population was 1,500. Today the population is still 1,500 and there are 40-plus businesses in the Creighton area, including home businesses. The new RCMP station has recently been opened as has the Creighton Super Stop which includes Mean Gene's Burgers. Right now plans are being finalized for a seniors' apartment block, all on one level. The response has been incredible and now there is talk that maybe they will build two! Doug is very proud of the community of Creighton and says, "The people in Creighton are the cream in the coffee for the business people in Flin Flon." He states that the people in this area are looking towards the future and the development of their own seniors' multi-level care home. Then "people won't have to give up their identity as Saskatchewanites when the time comes for them to go into a home". Doug worked for the Town of Creighton from 1960 till he retired in 1982. His wife Isobel taught school at Creighton Community School for 18 years, teaching grade 2. Doug has some concerns about the talk of amalgamation of Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach. He thinks Creighton would suffer. He feels the communities can work together and share certain services on a tax or grant basis such as the Flin Flon/Creighton Library (which is one of their chief forms of entertainments), also the ambulance service and the cemetery which are on the Manitoba side of the border. Doug and Isobel have no plans of leaving Creighton. Two of their kids live here, their son Bruce and daughter Marg. Their eldest son David lives in Saskatoon and their other son Fraser lives in Assiniboine. They have seven grandchildren and spend a lot of time travelling. They have been to Europe several times, to Australia, the Maritimes, have gone on an Alaskan cruise and visited the States many times. However, Creighton is where they choose to "hang their hat!" Thanks so much for sharing with us! If we ever need a good will ambassador for Creighton, there is no doubt who that would be!
