Fort San began as a sanatorium. It opened in 1917, at a time when tuberculosis infections were on the rise, and was built to house 358 patients. It was a self-sufficient place, with vegetable gardens, livestock, a power house and an extensive library for patients provided by World War I veterans. The Arts and Craft/Tudor Revival style building on the site was built between 1912 and 1922 for the sanatorium.
Once tuberculosis became less of a threat in the early 1960s, the building found a new purpose. In 1967 it became home to the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts, where for thirty years thousands of young people studied dance, music, visual art, writing and theatre. More than 1,200 children and adults attended the seven-week program in the summer of 1968, and the facilities were expanded and improved through the 1970s. The school closed in 1991 for lack of funding, though the Sage Hill Writing Experience, one of its spin-offs, carries on at venues around the province.
Through the summers of the nineties until 2004, the site also served as a Royal Canadian Sea Cadet camp, HMCS Qu'Appelle Cadet Summer Training Centre, offering music, sailing and general training. The historic building later housed the Echo Valley Conference Centre, a provincial government run facility. In 2004 the Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation decided to close the centre and offer it for sale. Fort San incorporated as a resort village on September 1, 1987, and the Echo Valley Conference Centre is still part of the village today.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Fort San” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.