Nestled on the southern Saskatchewan plains roughly 41 kilometres south of Regina, Wilcox sits within the Rural Municipality of Bratt’s Lake No. 129 and Census Division No. 6. Despite its modest size, this small village carries a profile well beyond what its population numbers might suggest. The 2021 Census recorded 261 residents living in 83 of the village’s 93 private dwellings, representing a slight decline of 1.1% from the 264 people counted in 2016. That 2016 figure itself reflected a sharper drop from the 339 residents tallied in 2011. Wilcox covers a land area of 1.43 square kilometres, giving it a population density of roughly 182.5 people per square kilometre.
The village traces its roots to 1902, when a post office was established in what was then the Provisional District of Assiniboia West of the North West Territories, within the federal electoral district of Qu’Appelle. Saskatchewan became a province in 1905, and Wilcox formally incorporated as a village on April 20, 1907. An early one-room schoolhouse, Wilcox School District No. 1633, was established at Township 13, Range 21, west of the 2nd Meridian. The village is best known today as the home of the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, a boarding school serving students in grades 9 through 12. The institution was founded in 1919 by Father Athol Murray as the Notre Dame College of the Prairies. Wilcox was also home to the Notre Dame Hounds of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League until the team relocated to Warman in 2025, becoming the Warman Wolverines. The village has produced several notable figures, including NHL Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper, former federal cabinet minister Ralph Goodale, former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Toronto Maple Leafs brothers Nick and Don Metz, and NHL player Jaden Schwartz. The 1980 film The Hounds of Notre Dame was shot on location in the village.