City of Regina Archives Photograph Collection, CORA-RPL-A-346

Title: Mayor Jacob W. Smith
Date: 1903
Retrieval Number: CORA-RPL-A-346
Extent: 2 B&W prints; 12.5 cm x 17.5 cm
Scope and Content Note: Mayor Jacob W. Smith
Access Restrictions: None
Photographer: Unknown
Parent fonds/collection: RPL Photograph Collection
Historical Note: Jacob W. Smith was mayor in 1899, 1902, 1903, and again in 1907. He was the first mayor of the City of Regina . Regina became a city partly in order to solve some of its pressing financial worries. As a town, its borrowing capacity was limited, but as a city, Regina was better able to borrow money. This enabled the new city to expand its public works programs in order to make Regina more appealing to settlers. In his 1903 term as mayor, Smith approved a plan to purchase the privately-owned power plant and a plan to bring water to Regina from Boggy Creek. These two schemes were vitally important to Regina 's future.