Today I Learned . . .

Why was the name 'Idylwyld Drive' given to the main road through Saskatoon?

The name Idylwyld Drive comes from the neighbourhood of the same name and was applied to both the bridge and the freeway by City Council upon completion of the bridge on September 28, 1966. The records don't reveal any real discussion on the matter - literally, one Councillor suggested the name for the bridge and freeway, everyone agreed, and that was it. In 2001, the Idylwyld Bridge was re-named in honour of Senator Sid Buckwold, ex-Mayor of Saskatoon, who died that year.

The source of the name "Idylwyld" itself is a bit obscure. There is an old, tongue-in-cheek story that it was because the "The men are idle and the women are wild" but this is of course not true, particularly since the name was applied before it was developed during the pre-First World War real estate boom, around 1909-1912.

There are several places in Ontario named something like "Idylwyld" and it's possible that the name is taken from one of them, and that it was simply chosen by the original developer because of its vaguely sylvan / pastoral sound (the area would have been fairly bushy at the time, and if I recall correctly, prior to development was often used as a camping ground by early residents of Nutana seeking to beat the summer heat).

Jeff O'Brien
City Archivist