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In the 1930's Saskatoon was a small city that developed as a center for agricultural support.
There was a small central business district surrounded immediately by residential areas and had a small airport on the North Western edge of the city limits. Growth maps at the time show the extent of built up areas of the city.

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Map of Saskatoon 1930
3 July 1930
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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Aerial view of Broadway and 19th Street showing YMCA building in lower right of picture.
1936
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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View of Broadway bridge approach from the west bank downtown side.
1936
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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The next few images are associated with the recorded memories of Saskatoon residents who joined the armed services. They relate city places at the time with the experiences of the people and events of the time.

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Mayfair School on Avenue E between 34th and 35th streets.
1937
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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Hi my name is Nick Kryway and I was born in Foam Lake Saskatchewan on November 26, 1922. We left the farm there and moved to Saskatoon. I started grade one at Mayfair School and finished my public school
there. I joined the navy in 1940 or 1941 or somewhere in there it is too far back I cannot remember. I knew sailors that came back from the coast and I saw the uniform with the bell bottom trousers and boy I just fell in love with that and if I ever join any service I am going to join the navy. I knew 2 or 3 guys who were in the reserve navy during the war and anyway some of them were in 4 or 5 years before
the war. So anyway when the war came along I was almost through high school but I have to go because all my buddies are going and I am not going to get left behind. So I get in and I went down to join the navy and they asked me for my birth certificate. My Dad's passed away many years ago now and my Mother and brother have moved to the coast and I cannot find it. They asked if I was sure I was 18 and I said
yes I am 18. They told me that I did not look 18 but anyway we started training. The training went on for months. They asked me again if I found my birth certificate and I replied that I cannot find it. The person who did the final signing told me he though I was 18 so he asked me to sign on the dotted line and I was in. After a couple of more weeks training in Saskatoon the whole draft was bound for the coast. I still have a picture of the gang of us from the coast. We finished our basic training and the gunnery course which I was ordered to do. I passed it with flying colours and I went abord a ship
The Prince Robert for my first trip out to sea.

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Saskatoon technical collegiate on 2nd Avenue and 19th Street.
1931
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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My name is Gordon McInnis and I was born in Langham Saskatchewan but I came to Saskatoon at an early age. I was born in 1924 and I was brought up in Saskatoon during the depression. Things were pretty rough. Nobody seemed to be working and then the war came along and it seemed to be a salvation for many people because they started getting three meals a day. I joined the army at 17. There were three of us, all young, and all wanted to be generals, and so we decided we would join the army as tank people. Once we finished training we were split up and joined different outfits and so on.

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Bedford Road Collegiate.
1937
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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Well I am Bill McCuster and I was born in Onion Lake north of Llyoydminister in 1925 and we moved to Saskatoon in 1942. I went one year to high school at Nutana Collegiate in Saskatoon. And then enlisted in the army when I was 18 years old. It was the thing to do in those days all the young fellows had their mind on enlisting and I guess probably the excitement and adventure of it possibly but it was a time when Hitler was, but not only Hitler but the axis nations were trying to overcome the whole world and it was a very dangerous time and everyone was out to try and stop them and that was it.
I went to Regina to enlist and then was stationed at Regina for a very short while and then went
to Camp Dundurn for my basic training. I took all my basic training in Dundurn and at that time Dundurn was an armoured corps training camp and I was assigned to the armoured corps. I was chosen to become a wireless operator. We called them wireless operators in those days but now days you call them radio operators. So I took my wireless course in Dundurn and in April of 1944 I went overseas.

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Saskatoon Merchants baseball team group photo.
1940
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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My name is Jerry Webster and I am 82 years of age and I have lived in Saskatoon all my life. Well originally I lived in Sutherland which is now part of Saskatoon. I joined the navy in 1940. Many times I was asked why was it the navy that I joined, well it so happens that there was about seven of us off the Ball club which I was associated with at that time, the old Saskatoon Merchants which were well known. We all joined the navy, not all together but within three of four months of one another. I took my training at the HMCS Unicorn which at that time was located on 1st Avenue just of of 25th Street. It was there we began our training for the navy. This was in about June 1940 and in October of 1940 we were drafted and went to Esquimault in Victoria British Columbia.

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Saskatoon Star Phoenix headlines death of Saskatoon sailor June 28, 1940.
28 June 1940
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada