The Ghost Town of Loverna, Saskatchewan

Close to the Alberta border is a lovely little (almost) ghost town named Loverna.  In fact, I think its one of the most interesting lost towns on the Canadian prairies and one I hope to visit again sometime soon.  Loverna is located about 50 km northwest of Kindersley at the intersection of Highway 772 and Range road 290. 

In Loverna, you will find old abandoned storefronts, abandoned churches and abandoned homes.  In fact, it has a church that was abandoned as a church and converted to a home and then abandoned as a home - an abandoned church house! 

Loverna's history is directly tied to the railway system that was designed to gather and move grain and oilseeds produced by farmers on the prairies.  Originally, the Grand Trunk Pacific went through town as it was completed in 1913 and connected Biggar, SK to Hemaruka, AB. The line was planned as a thorough route, but changes to the design of the network of tracks resulted in changes that did not benefit Loverna and the track remained a branch line.   Ultimately, the track was lightly built and poorly maintained and so could only support boxcars and lightweight hopper cars for grain loading. 

In the 1970s and 1980s many uneconomic branch lines were shut down. There were also greater opportunities to rationalize the system as significant technological changes made it much easier for farmers to transport grain to larger grain handling hubs. By 1996, the branch line to Loverna was closed and the population immediately began to decline.  

Loverna's population actually reached its peak much earlier. The 1926 Canadian census has Loverna's population at 221. However, according to the 2021 Census, Loverna had a population of only 5 living in 4 of its 7 total private dwellings.  With a land area of 0.64 km2 , it has a population density of 7.8/km.

While there are no remaining grain elevators in Loverna, one of its former elevators remains in existence. It currently sits on a farm just across the border in Alberta. 














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Location: Loverna, SK S0L 1Y0, Canada

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