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What Kipling is known for
Kipling is a Saskatchewan town of 1,076 people at the 2021 census, on Treaty 4 land in the Rural Municipality of Kingsley No. 124. In 2006 the town bought a house to finish a stranger’s internet trade, and became the last stop in Kyle MacDonald’s chain of trades that started from one red paper clip.
Treaty 4 land and a chain of trades
Kipling sits on Treaty 4 territory of the Cree and Saulteaux, signed at Fort Qu’Appelle beginning September 15, 1874. Regular trains reached the community on October 12, 1908, and the town takes its name from Rudyard Kipling, who passed through Saskatchewan by train on October 4, 1907. On July 14, 2005, Kyle MacDonald of Montreal began trading up from one red paper clip; by mid-2006 fourteen trades had carried him through an afternoon with Alice Cooper and a KISS snow globe, which on June 2, 2006 he traded to actor-director Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.
The town buys a house
Kipling’s economic development officer, Bert Roach, proposed to council that the town trade a house at 503 Main Street for the role. The town bought the 1920s Eaton’s catalogue house at an undisclosed price Roach said was well under its market value of about C$50,000. The trade closed on July 12, 2006, and the town gave MacDonald a key to Kipling along with the house. Nolan Hubbard, a recent high school graduate, won the town’s audition for the role.
A fifteen-foot paper clip, and a cafe
On July 12, 2007, Kipling unveiled a giant red paper clip in Bell Park, 15 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 3,043 pounds, which the town calls the world’s largest, citing its 2007 Guinness certificate; Guinness’s current record paperclip, 9.28 metres of stainless steel, was unveiled in Miass, Russia, in 2010. Billie and Ellen Johnson bought the paperclip house in 2010 and ran it as a cafe until July 2026. In 2025 Johnson said visitors still walked in for lunch and asked where the paperclip house was, while standing in it.
Questions people ask about Kipling
Why is Kipling, Saskatchewan known for a paper clip?
In 2006 Kipling bought a house to complete Kyle MacDonald's internet trading chain, which had grown from one red paper clip to a film role. The town later put up a giant red paper clip 15 feet 2 inches tall in Bell Park, which it calls the world's largest.
What did Kipling trade for a movie role?
Kipling traded a 1920s house at 503 Main Street, bought by the town at an undisclosed price officials said was well under its market value of about C$50,000. Corbin Bernsen had offered a role in his film Donna on Demand in exchange for Kyle MacDonald's KISS snow globe, and the town then offered the house for that same role.
Who played the role Kipling's house paid for?
Nolan Hubbard, a recent high school graduate at the time, won the town's own audition and played the character Ned, also called Prime8, in Donna on Demand. The film was released direct to DVD in 2009.
Is the paperclip house still a cafe?
No. Billie and Ellen Johnson bought the house in 2010 and ran it as a cafe until July 2026. In 2025, before it closed, Johnson said visitors still walked in asking where the paperclip house was, while standing inside it.