Grenfell is a
town of regal appointments.
It has been the
home of three of the provinces Lieutenant-governors: Lieutenant Governor
Frederick W. Johnson, a school teacher, Sir Richard Lake, a Grenfell district
farmer, and Saskatchewan's first native-born Lieutenant Governor, William John
(Billy) Patterson.
William John
(Billy) Patterson was the Lieutenant Governor from 1951-1958. Patterson was also
Saskatchewan’s first native-born premier from 1935-1944. Patterson was the only
person to hold both offices.
Lake arrived in
Grenfell in 1883 and was elected to the North West Territorial Legislature in
1898 and sat until 1904, when he was elected to the Canadian Parliament where he
served until 1911. Lake was the Lieutenant Governor until 1921. Lake was also the
vice-president of the Territorial Grain Growers’ Association which was organized
the 1901 protest movement against the railway and grain elevator companies
that interfered with marketing grain.
