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The Village of Warspite Warspite, a village with a population of about seventy people, was built on the homestead of a man named Martin Byrne, and initially named Frances Siding, after his daughter. It was later renamed Warspite after a well-known British battleship that was engaged in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The first settlements in the area were closer along side the North Saskatchewan River. A church of England was built in 1899, and in 1905 Lopstick school was established. Two post offices were opened in 1907. Pine Creek post office closed in 1920, with the coming of the railway and the formation of Waskatenau. North Bank Post Office continued till 1952, although it moved several times. In 1914 a third post office was developed North West of present day Warspite. The twenties brought lots of new growth for Warspite. The first Warspite Fair was in 1920, and the same year the Northern Moose School District #3581 started work on their new school building. The Warspite Women's Institute was founded in 1921 by a group of women banding together to improve life for themselves and their family. Throughout the years the group did much for the town, and continues today. Three churches - St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, Warspite United Church, and Chahor Saint Peter and Paul Russo Orthodox Church were all built in the 20s. The depression years of 1930 - 1940 brought hardship to Warspite, as to every where else. However this decade also saw the creation of some new stores, including a second feed mill, a food and clothing store, general store, shoe and harness repair shop and a garage. The 1937 statistics showed the population of the hamlet being about 50. In 1952 Warspite changed from a hamlet under the rule of Smoky Lake into an incorporated village. The population was about 180. The town's one shallow well was replaced by a drilled deep water well, and the old pumphouse was replaced with a new one. A jail and village office were added, and later a fire hall. The arrival of the new fire engine was a big event, with the sirens going to announce their arrival. These weren't the only changes that decade though. Warspite's Russo Greek Orthodox Church was founded in 1952. Television came to Warspite in September of 1954 with Stanley Potiuk having the first set installed in his hardware store. In the mid 50's John Dubetz started providing a traveling bank service every Wednesday as a Treasury Board Agent. The old C.N. Station was replaced with a new one, and the Community Hall bought stacking chairs. A 1960 survey of the village of Warspite shows a trading area of 580, a village population of 153, and a residential area of 60 homes. Village council looked into the possibility of installing a water and sewer system, and by the mid-decade this service was achieved. However as the decade continued Warspite declined. Many farmers moved to the cities, and smaller businesses followed them. Centralization of country schools meant closing Lopstick, Brighton, and Northern Moose schools. In 1965 Warspite school was reduced to grades 1 - 9 with the older grades going to Smoky Lake and Vilna but the next year the school burnt down and was never rebuilt. In 1963 a bridge was built over the North Saskatchewan river, replacing both the Warspite and Waskatenau ferries. The same year the C.N. Station was closed. Both St. Anthony's and the United Church were closed during the 60s, and lightning destroyed the Searle Grain Elevator. Today Warspite has only about seventy people, and offers a hotel, post office, village office, park, and community hall.
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