#JustCurious Why is Lloydminster in two provinces?

Lloydminster has the distinction of being the only city in Canada to straddle two provinces, but why?

Anglican colonists from Britain settled Lloydminster in 1903. Their goal was to found an alcohol-free utopia on the plains of western Canada.

There were no Provincial boundaries at that time and the settlers laid down their main street along 110 degrees west latitude. That’s the fourth of the eight landmark meridians that the Dominion Land Survey used to map the country.

Two years later, Lloydminster was caught in the middle when Saskatchewan and Alberta were founded.

The town lobbied for a little while to be put over the border into Saskatchewan but their bid was unsuccessful. There was a 25-year period where Lloydminster existed as two cities. The west was Lloydminster, Alberta. The east was Lloydminster, Sask.

In 1903, the two Provinces agreed to share custody of the border city.