(submitted photo/Melfort and District Museum)

By Cam Lee

Dr. Shadd

‘The first black doctor on the Prairies’: a look at Dr. Shadd during Black History Month in Canada

Feb 24, 2020 | 2:13 PM

February is Black History Month in Canada, and one of the most fascinating local historical figures is Dr. Alfred Schmitz Shadd.

The Melfort and District Museum has a large collection of information about Shadd and his time in the northeast.

Shadd was born in 1870, and began his time in the northeast as a teacher in Kinistino, before returning to Ontario to complete his medical studies. He graduated with honours from the University of Toronto in 1898.

Shadd became one of two local doctors to service a large area in the region.

“He was only in Melfort for a short while, from 1904 to 1915, but he did so much” curator Gailmarie Anderson told northeastNOW. She said a local man named Jones used to take Shadd around the region in a buggy to tend to his patients.

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Besides a career in medicine, Shadd had a number of other jobs and interests.

“He headed up the Melfort Ag Society, he bred prized cattle on his farm near Kinistino, he was a member of the church board for the Anglican Church, he was a member of [Melfort] council,” Anderson said.

During his time on council, Shadd was instrumental in ensuring water and sewer lines were installed, including at the location of the historic post office at Main Street and MacLeod Avenue East.

Shadd was a member of the local school board, served as co-editor and co-owner of the Carrot River Journal, and was a politician and an entrepreneur.

His Central Drug Store building is the current location of RJ’s Urban Garden Cafe in Melfort on Burrows Avenue West.

“When they were doing one of the walls, they found a box of sulfur from the Central Drug Store,” Anderson said.

Shadd’s life was cut short at a young age, as he died of appendicitis in Winnipeg in March 1915.

Compiling Shadd’s history in the Melfort area was an interesting endeavour, according to Anderson.

“It started quite a few years ago when Frances Westlund was curator here, and then we actually contracted, for a research project, was a local fellow named Garry Forsyth,” Anderson said.

Forsyth has produced a book that people can purchase or see at the museum. Shadd Drive is also available online.

Shadd Drive – Garry Forsyth’s book on Dr. Shadd. (submitted photo/Melfort and District Museum)

A log building highlighting the work of local doctors, including Shadd, was constructed at the museum several years ago. The City of Melfort also dedicated both Shadd Drive and Shadd Street in memory of him.

Shadd’s accomplishments are even more impressive considering his race, and the era in which he lived.

“He was the first black doctor on the Prairies,” Anderson said.

She said the museum did a lot of their work on the doctor in partnership with, the Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.

During his research on Shadd, Forsyth said he was struck by the pioneer’s resilience and energy.

“For a black man to come out to the Prairies when really they were discouraged from coming here, and then becoming one of the most dominant pioneers in that 1905-1915 era when Melfort really grew, that struck me,” Forsyth said. “He made himself just about indispensible, and as much as he pushed, he was a very likeable person.”

Forsyth said the museum did a tremendous job in spreading the word about Shadd, but he still runs into people that don’t know the doctor’s story.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974