page_title: Herschel, Saskatchewan
section_title: Pioneer history
hierarchical_section_title: Herschel, Saskatchewan / History / Pioneer history
caption_attribution_description: English: John Herschel (1815-1879), photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron in April 1867. Image: 31.8 x 24.9 cm (12 1/2 x 9 13/16 in.) Mount: 39.9 x 32.9 cm (15 11/16 x 12 15/16 in.)
context_page_description: Herschel is a special service area in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is the seat of the Rural Municipality of Mountain View No. 318 and held village status prior to December 31, 2006. The population was 30 people in 2016. The community is located 37 km northwest of the town of Rosetown at the intersection of Highway 31 and Highway 656, along a now abandoned section of the Kerrobert-Rosetown Canadian Pacific Railway line. Herschel is the home of the Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre The Vancouver-based backpack manufacturer Herschel Supply Co., founded by Lyndon and Jamie Cormack in 2009, adopted the name of Herschel, the town where three generations of their family grew up.
context_section_description: The fertile grassland that once supported millions of bison around Herschel, was also ideal for agriculture. The hilly areas were well suited for grazing livestock.  This attracted early settlers to the region and in October 1910, the village of Herschel was established. The village was named in honour of 19th Century English physicist and astronomer Sir John Fredrick William Herschel.
  1911 was a busy year for Herschel.   Among the first to settle in the district was W. G. King who erected the first building in the village; a general store.  In June, a post office was opened and manned by Postmaster P.R. Plisson. This was followed by the arrival of the first mixed train in August. The first baby born in Herschel was Harry Herschel Cargill, born on October 4, 1911. A month later, the rail line from Macklin to Rosetown was formally opened for traffic. The United Church was the first church building constructed at Herschel and other construction included the building of a hockey rink and the construction of the village's first grain elevator by the McLaughlin & Ellis company.
  With the rapidly growing community, education became a concern and a school organization meeting was held at Herschel on October 26, 1912. The first school, a temporary one, was located in the house of Mr. Robert Day. Eventually, in 1925, $18,000 was raised and allotted for the construction of a new school. A large contingent of Mennonites from Russia arrived in the Herschel area in the winter of 1924/25 to settle and farm, forming a Bloc Settlement. They organized their congregation in 1925 as the Ebenfeld Mennonite Church, later changed to the Herschel Ebenfeld Mennonite Church in 1980.
  In the 1930s soft coal began to be mined a small valley just south of Herschel, which lead to the valley being named, the Coal Mine Ravine.  Today the ravine is no longer mined for coal but it is home to the Ancient Echoes Interpretive Centre, several archaeological sites, as well as being home to several endangered species of plants and the remains of a former First Nations/Metis/pioneer Red River Cart trail.
  In 1935, a major fire destroyed 18 homes and businesses in Herschel. The blaze destroyed three general stores, the post office, a harness shop, the drug store, a pool hall, the Royal Hotel, a Chinese laundry, a hardware store, the municipal office, a restaurant, homes and other structures. Poor local roads were blamed for the extent of the blaze, with fire engines from Rosetown unable to reach the community for more than four hours.
caption: Herschel was named after British astronomer Sir John Frederick William Herschel
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