In 1927, when the Canadian Pacific Railway started laying tracks southwest of Assiniboia, communities throughout the region began popping-up in anticipation of the railway coming through.
The village of Waverly, Glentworth鈥檚 original name, grew very quickly. By 1928, Waverly had 17 businesses, such as Barber鈥檚 Hardware and Taylor Sykes鈥� butcher shop. The growing community also had a Bank of Toronto branch. Waverly, soon to be renamed Glentworth after a street in London, also had a blind pig managed by George Clarey. During the 1920s, blind pigs were slang names for illegal bars.
After the Second World War, Glentworth gained additional facilities, such as a curling rink in the 1950s. Later, a skating rink was constructed in 1973. In the 1980鈥檚, Glentworth received a bowling alley. Glentworth had a centralized K-12 school built in 1962 鈥� the community鈥檚 school still serves this farming and ranching district.
Glentworth once had a unique facility built to protect a small number of people in the advent of a nuclear war. In 1964 during the Cold War era, the CPR and the Department of National Defence constructed a bomb shelter on the south side of the railway鈥檚 station house near the freight shed. In case of nuclear fallout after a Soviet attack, the shelter contained shelving for food, bunk beds and an area for telegraph and radio equipment. Strangely, there weren鈥檛 any washrooms inside this refuge. The shelter, which cost nearly $1600 to build, was destroyed for safety reasons in 1972.
In 2019, Glentworth is still a viable community with many services available, such as a garage, a hotel, a restaurant and an SGI insurance outlet. The RM of Waverly鈥檚 office is located in Glentworth. The Lafleche Credit Union has a branch in this community. Glentworth also has postal services.
Tracey Kuffner, the town鈥檚 postal worker, is content to live Glentworth. She鈥檚 lived in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, but prefers life in this community, which is 82.5 kilometres southwest of Assiniboia. 鈥淚 hate the city, there鈥檚 too many people. I wouldn鈥檛 live anywhere else,鈥� she said.
Across the street from town鈥檚 postal services, the Glentworth Country Store provides groceries for the district. Presently, the community-owned store is co-managed by Laurie Davies and Candace Richels. The shop鈥檚 former owner had been planning to shut the enterprise down in 1999, but the community joined together and bought shares in the store to keep this business running. Richels is proud to provide an essential service for Glentworth, a community she loves. 鈥淚 grew up down here and it鈥檚 a nice place to raise kids, because its safe and quiet,鈥� Richels said.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听
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