Fort Battleford

Fort Battleford

When the settlement of Battleford, in what is now west-central Saskatchewan, was named the capital of the North-West Territories in 1876, the North-West Mounted Police established a post to deal with anticipated problems with Indigenous people. Adjacent to the territorial government complex and a developing townsite, the fort consisted of about 10 buildings, including officers' quarters, a barracks, a storehouse, a workshop and stables. By 1880 a palisade enclosed the buildings in an area 145 by 155 m. During the North-West Resistance in the spring of 1885, the fort became a shelter for white settlers and an operations base for troops, as Métis and First Nation resistors moved on the Battleford townsite and farmsteads within the region. The post continued as a divisional headquarters and barracks until 1924. In 1951 the site became a national historic park, with many of the buildings restored or reconstructed for public visitation.