Historic Sites of Manitoba: Mennonite West Reserve (Rosenfeld, Municipality of Rhineland)

A plaque, erected by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Manitoba at Rosenfeld in the Rural Municipality of Rhineland, commemorates the Mennonite West Reserve. Established in 1875 by the Canadian federal government, the West Reserve provided agricultural land for immigrants from South Russia. Within a decade, 6,000 people were living on the seventeen townships reserved for their use. Seventy villages were founded and the land was divided into long strips around each village. This proved to be an inefficient system for grain farming and, by 1924, the open field pattern and many villages had been abandoned. Near the plaque is a fieldstone cairn, dedicated on 2 August 1970, commemorating the pioneers of the Rosenfeld area.

A plaque commemorating the Mennonite East Reserve can be found at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum.

Mennonite West Reserve plaque and Rosenfeld monument (February 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Mennonite West Reserve plaque and Rosenfeld monument (November 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.19955, W97.54846 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Manitoba Settlement and the Mennonite West Reserve (1875-1876) by Lawrence Klippenstein
Manitoba Pageant, Volume 21, Number 1, Autumn 1975

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Mennonite Heritage Village Museum (Steinbach)

Sources:

We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 1 December 2019

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