The first
telegraph line in the North West Territories was completed from Winnipeg to
Edmonton by way of Humboldt and Battleford in 1879. There were so called
stations along the line and at each of the stations there was an operator and a
lineman. At the station in Humboldt, George Weldon served as the lineman and his
wife as the operator. In 1883, the friendly couple with a long experience of
pioneering came to Grenfell, where they contributed a great deal to the
development of the town. The Weldon’s son, Andrew Charles, was the first white
child born in Grenfell. To mark the occasion the CPR presented the Weldon’ s
with a lot north of the station on Alberta Street.
There is a
whole district named after the Weldon’s, where there is the United Church and
the Holy Trinity Anglican Church of Canada. There is also a cemetery located at
the Anglican Church.
