Kuroki History Page

     Kuroki, Saskatchewan was named after General Tamemoto Kuroki who was head of the Japanese First Army during  the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. His forces were successful in fighting the Manchurian armies in the Battle of Yalu River, the Battle of Liaoyang, The Battle of Shaho and the Battle of Mukden. Britian was allied with Japan in this war.

     Apparently, General Kuroki was travelling thru Saskatchewan during the time that the Canadian Northern Railway was building the rail line thru the Quill Lakes area. In honor of the Japanese achievements, three towns along this rail line were given Japanese names, these were Mikado, Togo and Kuroki.

     Following is a history of Kuroki from the local history book "Seems Like Only Yesterday" published in 1980. We thank the authors for their work in preserving the history of the community.

The History of Kuroki Hamlet

The History of Kuroki Hamlet by Fred H. Olson

     When my brother and I stepped out on the loading platform seventy three years ago, Kuroki was little more then a strange Japanese name on the map of Saskatchewan. In the winter of 1907-8, Henry Moen and Lawrence Sill moved the Walter store, then located on the North side of the track, to some other site. That left only the Barry store on the North side, where it remained for many years. The building under construction on the corner of Main Street, was the new Walter Bros; store. That was to be Kuroki's main store for many years to come, operated by the Walter brothers. Later they either sold or rented the place to Korbin and Cowall. There was also a third man involved by the name of Klurafine. The latter mentioned man had a son with an exceptionally high I.Q., but as he was rather awkward, the kids called him (Sleika) Shyki.

     I believe it was in 1923 when the store went up in flames. That fire is still fresh in my memory. Every man, woman and child in Kuroki, were on the street enjoying the fireworks. The surrounding settlers saw the light in the sky as they arrived, adding to the crowd of spectators. As the heat increased, the exploding shotgun and rifle shells helped along with the exploding canned good, sounded like a miniature battle.

     Another store, which over the years had many owners, was located on the present curling rink parking lot. It was first operated as a Barber Shop and Pool Hall by W. L. Sill, on Railway Ave. Later it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Sam McLelland and moved to a new site. McLellands enlarged the building to include ice cream and groceries. After McLellands retired, the store had many owners and renters not necessarily in the following order. Goldman, Wallman, Jack Johnson, J. L. Hicks and Mr. and Mrs. Barney Thorlacious, who operated the store successfully for many years. The last owners were Mr. and Mrs. Austin Johnson.

     Earnest Paulson and Mike O'Mara rented a building in the East end of Railway Ave. and operated a store for a short period of time, when it was destroyed by fire in 1923. The Evans Brothers built a store on the site of the original Walter store.

     The present Co-op Store was built by Alex Jaud in the early twenties. Jaud operated it as his own private store until 1940, when it was bought by the Kuroki Co-op Ltd. and has been operating in this capacity since. Mr. T. J. E. Oates built a store on the site of the present Post Office. That store too, was destroyed by fire. Later Wasyl Panasuik built a store on the same site. Another little store in Kuroki, is presently being operated by Mrs. Lena Kuchelyma.

Boarding Houses

     In 1908 Mike O'Mara built a boarding house on the site of the present Figland residence. In 1909 it was sold to Jim Prince, who operated it till 1918, when it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Hans Loff. In 1922 it was destroyed by fire. Harry Loff, Hans's brother, perished in that fire. Jack McNamee owned a building in the east end of Railway Avenue, that had two living compartments. Those living compartments were occupied by the Shaw and Parfitt families.

Hotels

     The present hotel was built in 1912, by Mr. and Mrs. Tom McNamee. Mrs. McNamee's meals were known far and wide for their excellence. The hotel was enlarged in 1933. In 1946 it was sold to Ed Bugara. Over the years it has changed owners many times. Louis Yaworski of Rama, Saskatchewan owned it next, then it was sold to Mike Sliva, who operated it for many years. Later it was sold to Morley Mitschke and after a time Morley sold it to Victor Dvernichuk who after some time, sold it to Lorne Yashinski then Lorne sold it to Wally Hassman. Wally sold it to Joe Kowalchuk. Joe operated it for a time and then sold it back to Victor Dvernichuk, who operates it to the present time. He keeps and operates a respectable house.

Garages

     Parkinson and Fiest had a garage on the site of the present Municipal machine shed. They moved the garage onto the site where the Credit Union now stances. The building was converted into a hardiware store. There was little use for a garage, as the only car in town, at that time, was owned by Ernest Walter. There were still very few roads where a car couth be used It was not until the number five highway was constructed in 1924, that cars became more numerous. It was then Lance Walter and son Bernard (Bun) built a garage south of the Evans Brothers store and engaged Ernie Turner and Art Pengelly as mechanics. It was operated by Lance for many years. Eater it was purchased by Ed Wilchynski and Steve Swichiniuk. Later Steve sold his share in the garage to Ed's brother Chris. The Wilchynskis modernized the garage and operated it successfully for many years. In 1958 it was destroyed by fire.

     There was a garage on the corner west of the Coop store. I believe it was built by Tom Payday and Henry Aase was employed as a mechanic as was Joe Zimmer. It was later owned and operated by Wally Chuback for many years until it too was destroyed by fire. Presently there is only one garage in operation, that of Albert Prince. Wally Chuback, who had rebuilt after the fire, recently sold his garage to Steve Halmo who will use this building to house his farm machinery.
The Livery Barns

     The first livery barn was built by Irving Hastings and his father in 1909, on Railway Avenue. In 1922 it was sold to Elmer Heaclington, who, in turn sold it to P. A. May. The Walter Brothers operated it for a time, than it was managed by the Drader boys and later by Walter and Arthur McAllister. It was enlarged and sold to Emil Schultz and one of the Currie boys. It was finally destroyed by fire in 1930. Albert Shaw built a barn on Martin Street that he later sold to Robert Reciman, who in turn, sold it to Elwood Arnold. The last owner was Harry Peterson, who tore it down and constructed a new building. Now a livery barn is as extinct as a Dodo.

Blacksmiths

     Jim Crawford operated the first blacksmith shop. I believe his shop was in the building south of the store and was owned by Jack McNamee. Crawford was a fine blacksmith but had an explosive temper. Jim Prince operated a blacksmith shop on his farm. He was a good and skilled blacksmith. His brother George Prince was also a first class blacksmith. Crooks Cameron, Turewich, Frank Zayanchkowski and Jack McNamee also Metro Krywy worked at the blacksmith trade for a while. Now a blacksmith shop is as obsolete as a livery barn.

Carpenters

     Albert and Chester Follest built the first Kuroki school in 1908. Albert Lindgren built more houses and barns than any other carpenter. Rudolph Sjoblom and Ben Olson worked with Lindgren during the twenties. Roy McAllister and sons did some carpeter work, but they went into more stuccoing and plastering. Others doing carpenter work were O. Vennesland, Sven Ekstrom, Andrew Ekstrom, Fred Fresco, Paul Pfrotzchener, Nels Peterson, Jim Benson and Art Pengelly. Besides doing ordinary carpenter work, George Sill is also an excellent cabinet maker.

Cafes

     Sim and Charlie Yee operated a cafe west of the Co-op store for several years then sold out to Mr. and Mrs. Shinkewski, who were in this business until Mr. Shinkewski passed away. The cafe was then sold to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Kanigan. After a couple of years, Steve took ill and passed away. The business was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Lewis, who were the last owners.

     Rudolph Sjoblom operated a shoe repair shop on the site of the present Co-op store. He had his meals in a cafe, but I do not recall it's location. One morning Rudolph entered the cafe earlier than usual. From the dining room Rudolph could observe the man prepare breakfast. Rudolph could hardly believe what he saw. As it was winter time, the butter was likely stiff. The cook had a remedy for that. As he was making toast, he filled his mouth with butter, held it there till is was soft enough to spread easily, then he spat it on the toast and spread it. Quite convenient, but hardly appetizing. One can easily sympathize with Rudolph when he thought of all the breakfasts he had enjoyed there. Rudolph gave the man a terrific bawling out and spread the story all over town. That man had no more business and left town.

     One day a man named Zellers opened up a cafe in Danyluk's pool hall, which was then vacant. This man believed he was in constant communication with the spirits. If you entered the cafe he lectured to you about the spirits in a language no one understood but himself. He didn't stay long. People were afraid of him, especially women and children.

     Charles Russel operated a harness and shoe repair shop in the old hall south of the hotel. Rudolph Sjoblom was a trained shoemaker from Sweden. He operated the shop for a while. Albert Shaw did shoe repair work in their residence. Alex Seminiuk also repaired shoes in his residence, east of the hotel. Others who tried their hand at shoe repairing were Jim Swanson, Carl Mackie, H. Schwartz and Harry Peterson, who repaired in his own residence.

Bakers

     Mrs. Albert Shaw baked bread for sale, in their own residence on the site where Terry Braaten's home is now situated. Mr. and Mrs. Tom McNamee's son-in-law, Fred Oliver, operated a bakery for a while.

Butcher Shops

     Jim Jenson built a butcher shop in the west end of town, approximately where Albert Ekstrom's house is now situated. Meat could be obtained there and so could homebrew for those who so desired. It was later operated by John Ziola then by Art Oliver. The last one to operate the butcher shop was Wasyl Panasuik.

Machine Agents

     Over the years the machine agents at Kuroki were: John Barry, Walter Brothers, Parkinson anti Feist, Jim Benson, Rube Carlson, Metro Krywy, Walter Maclarash, Joe Zimmer and Louis Yaworski, W. L. Sill, Frank Lena, Bill Sowa and Russel Batuik, Maclarash Brothers Ernie, Eugene and Jerry, and the Wilchynski Brothers Ed and Chris.

Conclusion

     In closing I ask permission to make a few remarks about our little town. Kuroki will never be more than a Hamlet, existing as it does, in the shadow of Wadena. What Kuroki lacks in size has been more than compensated for in forward looking men and women. When travailing the highways of the Province and see rubbish and weed infested back yards of many towns and villages, one can be pardoned for feeling a surge of pride, when returning to our clean and orderly little town. Not only on account of the neatness and order of the Hamlets but also of the friendly and familiar faces of it's people and that is "Home Sweet Home" to those of us who have the good fortune to reside here or in the surrounding community.