FROM THE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Gates were early campus entrance

By Patrick Hayes
U of S Archives

Though the early wagon trail had not been used for decades, it can still be seen in this 1928 aerial view of campus. University Archives photo A-7769

Though the Memorial Gates no longer act as the entrance to the University of Saskatchewan, their location is no accident. They mark the spot where one traditionally entered the University from the south.

Before Saskatchewan became a province, Saskatoon a city and the campus occupied its present site, there existed a system of wagon trails that criss-crossed the province. One such trail was the Batoche/Clark’s Crossing Trail which travelled east of the Saskatchewan River between the Metis communities of Batoche and Round Prairie.

On the spot where the trail intersects College Drive, the Memorial Gates are located. To the south of the University, the path of the trail can still be seen in the shape of University Drive.

By the 1950s the Memorial Gates were no longer the primary access to the campus. They instead acted as the gateway to the University Hospital. In the late 1980s various plans were considered to help ease the flow of traffic through the area, including moving the Gates to another area of campus.

The design finally accepted left the Gates in their original location as a pedestrian entranceway, with traffic re-routed to the west.