built in 1905 is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada. When the town of Champion was relocated, so the story goes, a Winnipeg C.P.R. man named the town after the prominent banker. The Village of Champion received its charter on May 27, 1911, and the first council meeting was held in June. The growing village required ever more services, and soon Champion was home to its first grain elevator (1912), a telephone office, a school (1913), recreational facilities, and an ever-growing number of retail shops and businesses. A local newspaper, The Champion Chronicle, was also started in 1918 or 1919, and remained in print until 1943. Agriculture sustained the growth of the Champion area. In 1915 Champion became known as the "Million Bushel Town," as one million bushels of wheat were shipped that year. The Champion Board of Trade was eager to promote the village as a land of opportunity, and in 1913 published the promotional pamphlet "Grain Golden Champion," which was sent around the world to entice settlers and entrepreneurs to move to the area. Claiming that "of all the thriving towns and cities in Western Canada, destined to become the industrial centres of the future, none has established its position, or grown to such importance, in so brief a space of time, as Champion," the Board of Trade invited people to take up opportunities in, of course, grain farming, but also in poultry- and stock-raising, railway work, brick- and cement-making, and the development of the natural gas and coal resources in the area. However, Champion wasn't the only western settlement claiming to be the city of the future, and its population peaked at around 650 people. Nevertheless, Champion continued to mature into a stable and close-knit village. The building of the Community Hall in the late 1920s was a particularly important moment in the history of the town, and the Hall continues to host a variety of community social events to this day. Along with agriculture, coal mining was a particularly important economic engine for the area. After the initial discovery of coal by Henry Therriault, a number of mines were established. Between 1906 and 1965, when the last coal mine was shut down, there were 58 registered coal mines in the Champion area. In addition to these, there were numerous mines dug into the river or lake beds by families who used coal to heat