A Short History of Sandy Lake

    The area around Sandy Lake was surveyed by 1880. By 1900 Sandy Lake was first known as Lake # 27 and mostly uninhabited. At that time people from outside the area came to enjoy the lake and nature, tenting and staying in cottages.    

    In 1902 the railway was being planned and came through the area in 1904. It was at this time that the name Sandy Lake first began to be used and the townsite was in the process of being built.   

     Lots in Sandy Lake went on sale in about 1910. A picture from 1910 shows a settlement of 7 buildings and no streets, and included Albert Bridgman's store and post office (1907)  and a schoolhouse (1909). Later, a Presbyterian Mission (1910) was built on the site of the current Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Sandy Lake was connected to Newdale by a series of roads in 1906. Between 1910 and 1920 the random collection of buildings were transformed into an orderly town of streets and roads.

    In 1914, the Municipal Council started collecting license fee on stands selling refreshments on Sandy Lake beach. A grain elevator was built in 1911, and in 1919 the lakeshore was divided into cottage lots.

During the 1920s, land was in demand and Sunday excursion trains brought car loads of people to the lake. Many lots were sold in the village at this time.

    In 1924 Sandy Lake received its first fire truck.

    In the 1920s, economic activities in Sandy Lake expanded to include Bank, Lumber Yard, Livery Barn, Grain Buying, Police Services, Blacksmiths, Road Maintenance.

in 1930 the new four room school house was completed and opened.

Sandy Lake became an unincorporated village in 1939 under the name of Sandy Lake Village District.