| Gravelbourg | |
| Official Name: | Town of Gravelbourg |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Pushpin Map: | CAN SK Gravelbourg#Saskatchewan |
| Coordinates: | 49.8728°N -106.5536°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Saskatchewan |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Type4: | Rural municipality |
| Subdivision Name4: | Gravelbourg No. 104 |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Darcy Stefiuk[1] |
| Leader Title1: | Town Manager |
| Leader Name1: | Carol White |
| Leader Title2: | Governing body |
| Leader Name2: | Gravelbourg Town Council |
| Leader Title3: | MLA |
| Leader Title4: | MP |
| Established Title: | Post office Founded |
| Established Date: | 1907 |
| Established Title3: | Incorporated (Town) |
| Established Date3: | 1916[2] |
| Area Total Km2: | 3.23 |
| Population As Of: | 2011[3] |
| Population Total: | 1,116 |
| Population Density Km2: | 346.0 |
| Timezone: | CST |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | S0H 1X0 |
| Area Code: | 306 |
| Blank Name: | Highways |
| Blank Info: | 43, 58, and 13 |
| Blank1 Name: | Waterways |
| Blank1 Info: | Wood River |
| Footnotes: | [4] [5] [6] |
Gravelbourg is a small multicultural town in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located just west of the Wood River at the junction of provincial Highway 43 and Highway 58, approximately 125 kilometres from Moose Jaw, Swift Current, and the United States border. The region served as a path for First Nations peoples many years ago, and was also integrated into the Redcoat Trail of the 19th century. Gravelbourg is now a key link on the 21st century Trans Canada Trail.
Gravelbourg is also referenced in the fourth verse of the North American version of "I've Been Everywhere", written by Geoff Mack and made popular in North America by Hank Snow and more recently Johnny Cash.
Gravelbourg was settled in the early 1900s and was one of the French block settlements of the Gravelbourg-Lafleche-Meyronne area in southwestern Saskatchewan,[7] In 1930 it became the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic diocese of Gravelbourg.[8]
Gravelbourg carries the name of its founder Abbé Louis-Pierre Gravel.[9] Louis-Pierre Gravel was designated a Person of National Historic Significance in 1956. The inscription on the monument in Gravelbourg built in 1958 to honour him reads:
Gravelbourg celebrated its centennial in 2006.
Gravelbourg celebrates its many cultures at its annual Summer Solstice Festival d'été .
See also: List of historic places in Saskatchewan.
See also: List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Saskatchewan. A number of heritage buildings are located within the community. Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Cathedral, the former Convent of Jesus and Mary and the former Bishop's Residence were designated the Gravelbourg Ecclesiastical Buildings National Historic Site of Canada in 1995.[10]
Gravelbourg Court House,[11] College Mathieu Pavilion,[12] Gravelbourg Post Office,[13] Gaiety Theatre and[14] Canadian National Railway Station[15] are also listed heritage sites.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Gravelbourg had a population of 986 living in 438 of its 482 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,083. With a land area of, it had a population density of in 2021.[16]
In the 2011 Canada Census, out a total of 1,116 residents 625 chose English while 300 chose French as their mother tongue. Thirty nine percent or 430 residents spoke both English and French. Gravelbourg's French-language Fransaskois community is the subject of a short documentary Les Fransaskois, produced for the documentary series The Grasslands Project.[17]
Other languages spoken in Gravelbourg were: Bisayan languages (5), Chinese (10), Dutch (5), German (15), Korean (5), Lao (5), Spanish (5), Swahili (5) and Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) (50).
École Gravelbourg School (Grades K to 12) is located on 1st ave in Gravelbourg. The principal is Jody Lehmann.[18] The Convent of Jesus & Mary (Past: Gravelbourg Elementary School), is now home to the GCMC (Gravelbourg Community Music Centre).
The town has for the past four decades been noteworthy for College Mathieu, a francophone boarding school for boys and girls who wish to acquire or retain fluency in French. The College offers courses such as welding, nursing and early childhood education. The high school is now named École Mathieu de Gravelbourg and is run by Le CÉF. The school has attracted students from throughout the southern part of the province as well as other areas of Canada and overseas, notably Africa. It offers classes from Grade 8 to 12.[19]
École Beau-Soleil offers K to Grade 7 in French.[20]
From 1930 to 1998 the town was the cathedral city of the Roman Catholic diocese of Gravelbourg, headed by a Francophone bishop. In 1998, Pope John Paul II suppressed the residential diocese, so that it is now a titular see.[21] The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption was at that time designated a "co-cathedral" of the Archdiocese of Regina.[22]
Lorne Calvert, the 13th Premier of Saskatchewan, was the minister of the United Church of Canada in Gravelbourg.[23]
There are also the Gravelbourg Lutheran Church and the Church of Christ.