User:Bill Oshynko

West Bend, Saskatchewan, located approximately 20 km. southwest of Foam Lake in the #276 municipality, came into prominence in the late 1940s and 1950s as a service centre for the surrounding area. At its maximum, the town housed approximately 33 families with a population between 70 to 75. Three grain elevators, livestock corrals, five general stores, three garages, two bulk fuel dealers, a post office, a hotel, a shoe repair shop, a pool room, a town hall, and a two room school serviced the area. The name was derived from the railway track making a bend from the northeast to the west as it came into town. In the late 1960s, as the road conditions and vehicles improved, the area residents started to venture to larger centres for buying and selling commodities. The CPR shut down the rail route through West Bend in the 1970s, causing the grain companies along the whole line to shut down the elevators along with the stock yards and the bulk fuel stations. In the 1980s, the local businesses consisted of two grocery stores, one garage, the hotel, post office and school. In the 1990s, these either closed or burned down. In the 2000s, the Foam Lake fire department burned all the abandoned structures, except for one garage, the town hall and the school, which are all under private ownership.