The Hill Companies: top 100's oldest member.

The Regina-based Hill family marks 105 years in business this year.

The company began in 1903 when Walter Hill, a small-town teacher, joined E.A. McCallum to form McCallum Hill which entered the real estate and insurance industries in the bustling capital of the Territories.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Soon they were developing the Lake-view residential neighbourhood and sold land to the provincial government to house the legislative buildings. The firm also erected the province's skyscraper before the economy stalled with the outbreak of the First World War followed by a brief up-tick before the Great Depression.

The firm, nonetheless, survived these trying times and, while the McCallum family had departed the enterprise, the second generation arrived when Fred Hill returned home after two stints as a bomber pilot for the American military in the Second War.

He soon took over the business when Walter's health declined and oversaw a significant growth spurt. First, though, he had to square off with the Douglas government as it took over one of the firm's insurance divisions. Fred responded by opening a competing company the next day and retained all his clients, leaving the government with an empty shell.

About that time Fred, along with two partners, made his first foray into the oil business with a drilling company and later an exploration company that discovered the first light crude in southeast Saskatchewan.

He continued his real estate activity adding more residential neighbourhoods in Regina and expanding beyond the province's borders with two major office towers in Calgary. Fred's expansion initiatives included the acquisition of the Regina CTV station, the purchase of two radio stations and a return to the oil business shortly after the National Energy Program when he partnered with American businessman Neal Blue to create Harvard Petroleum which continues to operate in Calgary today.

The third generation joined the family enterprise when Paul Hill set aside a successful career in the investment field to return to Regina. Under his guidance the expansion continued. Although they sold the television station and added radio stations, he continued the pursuit of the family's core businesses of real estate and insurance, significantly expanding its portfolio of commercial properties in Alberta as well as strategically expanding into the United States, and then engineering the high-profile takeover of Crown Life, which was relocated to Regina, adding 10 per cent to the city's GDP and two per cent to the provincial economy.

Later he put together a failed deal to buy ailing Piper Aircraft that came within a whisker of being closed.

The firm has played a key role in shaping Regina's downtown core with the construction of several major office towers including the Twin Towers, the Crown Life Building, the Bank of Montreal Building and the FCC tower.

More recently The Hill Companies entered the Saskatoon market with the development of Preston Crossing.

Not one to shy away from diversification, the company has become a significant manufacturer with plants in Swift Current and the United States that make egg and fruit flats from recycled newspapers.

Roseanne Hill Blaisdell, the newest member of the Hill family to enter the business, oversees the firm's leasing activity, making it one of the few enterprises in this province to succeed for more than a century and span four generations.