Kandahar sits on Highway 16 near Wynyard, close to the southern shore of Big Quill Lake, the largest inland body of salt water in Canada. Many of the first settlers in the district were immigrants from Norway and Iceland, or of Icelandic descent, and a good number came from the Argyle settlement in Manitoba. The first group arrived from Norway in 1904, among them Odin Granhaus, Henry Skjerven, Bert Lorenson, Amund Hagen and Gilbert Sather.
The Canadian Pacific Railway extended its line from Sheho in 1909, and railway executives gave the town its name, recalling a British military victory by General Roberts in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Thorvidur Halldorson, an Icelandic immigrant, became the first postmaster in 1910. For the first few years the post office spelled the name Candahar. Residents petitioned for village status, and Kandahar became a village in 1913. Among its businesses was a printing press run by Andres Helgason, a skilled bookbinder and printer.
Until the 1970s Kandahar was a thriving place with various stores and attractions, including a popular steak house. The community's only school closed in the late 1980s, and the population has declined since. Kandahar was the subject of Aisha Jamal's 2019 documentary film A Kandahar Away. On January 1, 2025, its status changed from organized hamlet to special service area within the RM of Big Quill No. 308.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Kandahar, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.