Steinbach, Manitoba

The land in southeast Manitoba upon which Steinbach sits, was the traditional lands of the nomadic Ojibway-speaking Anishinabe people. They used their lands for hunting, fishing, and trapping. The Anishinabe knew no borders at the time and their land ranged both north and south of the US–Canada border, and both east and west of the Red River. On 3 August 1871 the Anishinabe people signed Treaty 1 and moved onto reserves such as the Brokenhead Indian Reserve and Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation Reserve.[8] Shortly thereafter the government began surveying and staking out the land for the East Reserve (now the R.M. of Hanover).

Cenotaph listing Steinbach's 18 pioneer families at the Pioneer Cemetery

Steinbach was founded in 1874 by Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites.[9] Many of Steinbach's 18 original settler families came directly from the Borosenko colony in Imperial Russia, now Ukraine.[10] They took the name "Steinbach" from the village they lived in there. At the time they left for Canada, Borosenko was just ten years old, an off-shoot of the larger Molotschna (or Milk River) colony. However, Russia was not their ancestral homeland. Originating in Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking Flanders region of Belgium during the 16th century, the ancestors of Steinbach's Mennonite settlers also lived in Prussia for two centuries before their time in Ukraine.[11] One of the Mennonite groups in Molotschna was the Kleine Gemeinde, a small conservative minority in Molotschna but known for having the best farmers in the community.[11] In 1873, Mennonites from Russia became dissatisfied with increasing Russification and the removal of their military exemption, and sent delegates to Canada to investigate and negotiate terms of immigration. Many of the delegates decided to move their people to Kansas, however, the more conservative groups, such as the Kleine Gemeinde, were persuaded to settle in Canada because the Canadian government was more generous in their guarantees of religious freedom. In 1873 a Privilegium was signed, and a year later Mennonites started to arrive in the region. The document guaranteed, among other things, military exemption, freedom of religion, private schools, and land, known as the East Reserve.[12]

Two Mennonite groups settled in the East Reserve, the Bergthalers and Kleine Gemeinde. Steinbach's settler families were from the Kleine Gemeinde, and arrived in Canada late in the summer of 1874. When they arrived, they found that much of the better land in the reserve had already been settled a few months earlier by the Bergthaler and earlier Kleine Gemeinde families. The earlier settlers had come to realize the area suffered from excessive moisture and settled upon much of the higher lands and gravel ridges. Steinbach's settlers chose the best land that was available to them, which was in the very northeast corner of the East Reserve. The 20 homesteads were laid out on the northeast side of present-day Main Street along the Steinbach Creek.[11]

Contrary to the preferences of the Canadian government, the early settlers of Steinbach, like other Mennonite villages, organized the village into a Strassendorf, or street village, with each family occupying a long narrow strip known as a Wirtschaft.[10] Most of the settlers were farmers, but in a somewhat urban setting, who lived, to some degree, communally, and shared a common pasture at the end of the village. They started a school in the first year, and in the following year of 1875 built a school and teacherage.[11] Steinbach's Main Street was hacked out of thick poplar bush along the creek, where a bison trail ran, a trail that was still used by Indigenous people during Steinbach's early years.[13]

In June 1875, Steinbach's spiritual leader Jakob Barkman, who had led the Kleine Gemeinde to Canada, drowned in the Red River, along with Jakob K. Friesen on a trip to Winnipeg for supplies.[14] The absence of religious leadership in Steinbach created a vacuum that made the villagers receptive to John Holdeman when he visited in 1881. After Holdeman's visit many locals from the Kleine Gemeinde joined his new church, Church of God in Christ, Mennonite. This was the first of many schisms and revivals in Steinbach and eventually the town would be known for having dozens of churches, many of them different variations of Mennonite, a dynamic that has shaped the city's character.[10]

In 1877, Lord Dufferin toured Manitoba's new Mennonite settlements and stopped just west of Steinbach where he could see "half a dozen villages" in the distance. A crowd of 1000 people greeted his arrival.[10] That same year, the first and original windmill in the town was built by Abraham S. Friesen.[15] After a period of eight years, in 1882, Mayor Gerhard Giesbrecht said that the village had grown to 28 families with a population of 128.[11]

Various epidemics swept the area in the late 1800s, including scarlet fever, whooping cough, and diphtheria. In the spring of 1884 alone, more than seventy people died, mostly children. Another whooping cough epidemic took place in 1900.[13]

By 1900 the settlers had drained the swamps and cleared the land making it more suitable for the farming of wheat, barley, oats and potatoes. In the 1901 census, Steinbach had a population of 366, and almost the entire population still spoke Plautdietsch, with only a few reporting a knowledge of English.[13]

In 1910, the street village linear settlement, or Strassendorf (Straßendorf in German) for the community ended.[10] Prior to this time, the settlers of Steinbach lived in long narrow strips, called Wirtschaft (plural: Wirtschaften), along the Steinbach Creek. Following the lead of the neighbouring Mennonite village of Blumenort, who had abandoned their Strassendorf system a year earlier, the village of Steinbach was surveyed and land was redistributed with individual titles to open-field properties. Those who were given inferior land were financially compensated by the others. Although a communal pasture for cattle was maintained for some decades after this, the end of the linear settlement meant the end of the traditional communal lifestyle of the Mennonites in this area, but also opened the area up to greater capitalist enterprise.[11] The mayor, or schulz, of Steinbach at this time was Johan G. Barkman, Steinbach's longest serving schulz, who held that position for twenty-five years, including overseeing such significant events as the end of the Strassendorf.[16] In 1911, the Kleine Gemeinde church, who had met in the village school up until this point, constructed a building on the south end of the village.[13]

In 1912, J.R. Friesen opened a Ford auto dealership in town, which was the first Ford dealership in Western Canada. At the time, Friesen was excommunicated from the Kleine Gemeinde for adopting the modern technology, but within a few years, many Steinbachers accepted the automobile as an acceptable mode of transportation.[11]

By this time, Steinbach had a third Mennonite church, the Bruderthaler, who, unlike the Kleine Gemeinde and Holdeman Mennonites, taught that being successful in business was not a sin and, in fact, was to be encouraged. The new theology moved Steinbach from a more traditional and agriculturally-based economy to one that emphasized capitalist endeavour.[17] Entrepreneurs took advantage of the business opportunities at the time and several small businesses sprang up. Many other important and large businesses developed as well, helping to establish Steinbach as a regional service centre for the area.

By 1915, Steinbach had grown to a population of 463 and continued to attract immigrants from Europe.[11] Many of the new immigrants were Bergthaler Mennonites, but Steinbach also was the destination for new German and Lutheran settlers, as well as some British families who had previously settled in the Clearspring Settlement slightly to the north.[11] Steinbach's first bank, the Royal Bank, opened in 1915.[13]

During World War I, most Steinbach Mennonites were given an exemption from military service, as promised in the Privilegium they had agreed to upon immigration in the 1870s.[10] Mistakenly considered "ethnic Germans", even though they were actually primarily of Dutch ancestry, the Mennonites were caught up in the anti-German sentiment of the time and Conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden banned Mennonites from Steinbach and other areas from voting in 1917.[10]

A year later in 1918, as soldiers returned to North America, Spanish flu struck the village, killing many. Mennonites in the region were particularly affected by the outbreak, dying at a rate nearly twice that of other ethnic groups.[18][19]

After the First World War, Borden banned Mennonites and other pacifists from immigrating to Canada.[10] The ban lasted for three years, from 1919 to 1922, when the new Liberal government lifted the ban. At the same time, there was the out-migration of the more conservative Mennonites, who left the area for Mexico and Paraguay, after the Canadian government required them to learn English and attend public schools, issues which seemed to be in violation of the Privilegium signed in 1873.[12]

In 1920, the village of Steinbach was formed into an "Unicorporated Village District" of the Rural Municipality of Hanover.[20]

After the Mennonite immigration ban was lifted in 1922 by Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, a second wave of Mennonite immigration occurred due to the Russian Revolution, and many of the "Russlander" Mennonites took over farms and land left unoccupied by the Mennonites leaving for Latin America. During the 1920s, thousands of Mennonite refugees fled the Soviet Union, many of them arriving in the Steinbach area.[21] Moscow Road, which had been pejoratively named to refer to the Russlander Mennonites who lived there, was later renamed McKenzie Avenue after the Prime Minister who had allowed them to come to Canada as refugees.[22]

In 1941, the Steinbach Credit Union opened, partially in response to the difficulty in obtaining loans from the larger banks.[10]

During World War II, most Steinbachers who were eligible for the draft served in alternative service as conscientious objectors, though some also served in the active military.[10] After the war, a third major wave of immigration boosted Steinbach's population, with thousands of Mennonites again fleeing Europe.[21]

Steinbach was incorporated as a town on 31 December 1946, with the Main Street being paved the following year.[23][10] The new town elected Klaas Barkman as mayor who, along with councillor and auto-dealer A.D. Penner, had been instrumental in Steinbach's incorporation.[24] As the regional service centre for the area, Steinbach developed manufacturing, trucking, and retailing, particularly in automobile sales. Steinbach became known regionally as the "Automobile City," a named coined by A.D. Penner.[10]

From the 1940s to the 1960s, T.G. Smith, was a local bank manager who organized many of Steinbach's first recreational activities, which the Mennonite population had been reluctant to adopt on their own.[24]

In 1958, Leonard Barkman was elected mayor and served until 1970.[24] Barkman also served as M.L.A. while also mayor of Steinbach, a practice that is no longer allowed in Manitoba. Barkman was the first Mennonite from the area, who had previously eschewed this level of political involvement, to join the Manitoba Legislature.[24]

During the 1950s and 60s, Steinbach was home to many Christian revival meetings, including frequent visits by George Brunk, Ben D. Reimer and others. These meetings were held in a quonset just off of Main Street called The Tabernacle.[10] The new more evangelical theology transformed the doctrine and practices of many of the local Mennonite churches and contributed to their assimilation. Many local churches adopted evangelical theology or merged it with their traditional Anabaptist theology, and some dropped the Mennonite label altogether. According to literary critic Magdalene Redekop, these revival meetings also led to the secular Mennonite literary boom of the 1980s.[25]

In 1960 the Kleine Gemeinde church building, which by then was called the Evangelical Mennonite Conference, burned to the ground. The same year, the last traditional Mennonite housebarn in Steinbach was torn down by car dealer (and later mayor) A.D. Penner.[24] Partially in response to the destruction of heritage buildings in the area, such as the historic housebarn destroyed by A.D. Penner, residents in the 1960s saw the need to preserve and remember the Mennonite history of the region. In 1967 the Mennonite Heritage Village museum in Steinbach was opened.[10]

Windmill at Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach

In 1966, infamous gold thief Ken Leishman escaped from Headingly Jail and stole an airplane from Steinbach, solidifying his nickname as the "Flying Bandit".[26]

In 1970, the year of Manitoba's centennial, Steinbach was visited by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.[24] A crowd of 10,000 waited along the streets of Steinbach as the royals visited, coming from the east along Highway 52 after their visit to La Brouqerie. The Carillon described the visit saying, "it was the most memorable and exciting moment in the history of the Southeast. For the first time since the earliest European settlers arrived in the 1860s and 1870s, a member of the British royal family paid a personal visit to the communities of La Broquerie, Steinbach, Sarto, Grunthal and St. Pierre. For these communities and their people the visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles on the eve of Manitoba's 100th birthday highlighted a century of economic and cultural development."[24]

In 1972, Jake Epp, a former local high school teacher, was elected Member of Parliament in the region, the first Mennonite in the area to do so. Epp was also the first Mennonite to serve as a federal cabinet minister and was MP until 1993.[27]

In May 1980, Steinbach's first shopping mall, Clearspring Centre, opened on the north end of the community. The mall was named after the historic English and Scottish settlement in the area.[28]

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Aussiedler Mennonites, who had remained in the Soviet Union throughout much of the 20th century, or resettled in Germany during the 1970s, began to immigrate to the area and continued to do so through the nineties and early 2000s. Some of these people had converted to the Baptist church during the decades in the Soviet Union.[29] Over all, Steinbach's growth slowed somewhat during the 1980s and early 90s in comparison to the rate of growth in decades before or since.[30]

In 1996, Les Magnusson was elected mayor of Steinbach, the first non-ethnic Mennonite to hold that position, and Steinbach was incorporated as a city on 10 October 1997.[23] Magnusson was a vocal opponent of attempts in Steinbach to allow liquor sales.[31]

In 2000, the windmill at the Mennonite Heritage Village, a recognized symbol of the city, was destroyed by arsonists.[32] It was rebuilt less than a year later with the assistance of Dutch millwrights.[33]

Steinbach attracted prominent attention in 2004 when Mennonite author Miriam Toews, who was born and grew up in Steinbach, published her novel A Complicated Kindness. The book became a bestseller, exploring a fictionalized town modelled after Steinbach. It won the 2004 Governor General's Award for Fiction,[34] and was selected as the 2006 book for Canada Reads, the first book by a female writer to be chosen.[35]

Steinbach continued to grow during Magnusson's tenure and, after the election of Chris Goertzen as mayor in 2006, became one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada.[30] In 2011 Steinbach was officially announced as Manitoba's third-largest city, with the release of the population data from the 2011 Canadian Census. The growth was attributed to immigration from such countries as Germany, Russia, and the Philippines.[36] Steinbach gained national recognition from such newspapers as The Globe and Mail, which described the city as an immigration "hotbed" of Canada and a model for immigrant integration.[7][37]

The first Steinbach Pride parade in 2016.

During March 2013 the city gained national attention when several community members, such as the Southland Community Church and Steinbach Christian High School expressed opposition to provincial Bill 18, an anti-bullying bill that would require the accommodation of Gay-straight alliance groups in schools, including faith-based private schools.[38] On 13 September 2013 Bill 18 passed without amendments.[39] Partially in response to this issue, the city's first Steinbach Pride parade was held in 2016. While initially expecting about 200 people, approximately 3,000 people attended the event. This was brought about in part from the fact that not a single elected official from the area attended or endorsed the event.[40][41][42][43]

Ongoing rapid growth meant that the city needed more land and space in order to sustain itself. This led the city to negotiate an annexation of 2,800 acres (11 km²) from the Rural Municipality of Hanover in 2015, the first major annexation for the city since 1979.[44] Steinbach was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic beginning in August 2020 with the virus affecting community members, several businesses, and eventually an outbreak at Bethesda Place, the personal care home at Bethesda Regional Health Centre.[45][46] By November, 2020, Steinbach had the highest per capita rate of Covid infections in Canada.[47] The Bethesda Regional Health Centre was reportedly overwhelmed and out of beds on November 13, 2020, with patients having to be triaged in their cars.[48][49]

Despite being prohibited by local churches, Steinbach had alcohol sales, including beverage rooms, throughout the early 20th century. In 1950, however, Steinbach citizens voted to prohibit all liquor sales in the community, although a drinking establishment on Main Street called The Tourist Hotel was allowed to remain, until it closed in 1973.[50]

Since the 1970s, Steinbach has had 7 separate referenda on whether liquor sales should be allowed within the confines of the city, all of which failed until a 2003 referendum when Steinbach residents narrowly voted to allow limited liquor sales in the city, despite opposition from then mayor Les Magnusson.[31] The 2003 referendum, however, passed only a dining room license, permitting alcohol to be sold and served only with sales of food. In 2007, the issue of serving alcohol in restaurant lounges was defeated by only 9 votes. In the same referendum, voters approved, by a slightly wider margin, allowing sports facilities such as the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Course to serve alcohol.[51] In February 2008, Steinbach Council voted in favor of opening a liquor store on Main Street, as prohibition had been lifted.[52] Eventually, the first Liquor Mart in Steinbach opened in March 2009, on PTH 12 North, operated by the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission.[53] The most recent public vote was held in October 2011.[50][54] In this referendum, voters agreed to accept, by a large margin, the following three licences: beverage rooms, cocktail lounges, and private club licences.[55][56]

In 2018, after the Canadian government legalized cannabis, Steinbach residents voted to deny the licensing of retail cannabis stores in the city.[57]

East Main Street

Steinbach is unique in that there are no railways or rivers passing through town, so transportation to and from Steinbach has always been via road. The city is located approximately 50 kilometers southeast of Winnipeg, in a direct line. There are two principal highways serving the city, Provincial Trunk Highways (PTH) 12 and 52, which intersect at downtown Steinbach. Travelers coming from Winnipeg can take the Trans-Canada Highway (PTH 1) east for 40 kilometers, turning south at PTH 12 and continuing for 20 kilometers. This entire route consists of four-lane limited-access highways. Alternatively, travelers can also take PTH 59 south from Winnipeg and then take PTH 52 east to Steinbach. PTH 12 south from Steinbach is single-lane and ends at the American border at Sprague. Steinbach is situated on an alternate route between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, Ontario which is named MOM's Way.

The City of Steinbach owns and maintains Steinbach Airport, a federally registered aerodrome located 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) north of the city. The runway is 3,000 by 75 ft (914 by 23 m) and has an asphalt surface.[73] The runway is serviced with lighting and a beacon for night-time use. Fuel and servicing are available on site and are provided through the Steinbach Flying Club. The airport also features aircraft tie-downs, a heated lounge building and restroom facilities.

Additionally, Harv's Air Service operates Steinbach (South) Airport, a private aerodrome 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) south of the city. The main runway is 3,112 by 100 ft (949 by 30 m) and has an asphalt and turf surface. An additional runway measuring 1,834 by 100 ft (559 by 30 m) intersects the main runway to the north.[73]

Health for the city and surrounding area is governed by Southern Health-Santé Sud. Acute care and emergency services are provided by the Bethesda Regional Health Centre.

Steinbach's T.G. Smith Centre is home to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's Steinbach Pistons. The Pistons won their first Turnbull Cup in 2012–13. They won their second championship in 2017–18 and also the ANAVET Cup that season, beating the Nipawin Hawks in 6 games. They then moved on to the RBC Cup National Tournament but failed to qualify for the playoffs.

The Steinbach Huskies senior hockey club has been a fixture in the local hockey scene since the 1920s and currently plays in the Carillon Senior Hockey League. The Junior Huskies are eight-time champions of the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League. Steinbach's minor hockey teams are known as the Steinbach Millers.

Steinbach gained national attention when it hosted the 2009 Allan Cup, the Canadian senior 'AAA' hockey championship, with two Steinbach-based teams, the host Steinbach North Stars and the Manitoba champion South East Prairie Thunder competing in the tournament. The Prairie Thunder advanced as far as the championship game, which was broadcast nationally on TSN, but lost in double overtime. Three years later, the Prairie Thunder captured their first ever national title at the 2012 Allan Cup. The Prairie Thunder also hosted the 2016 Allan Cup in Steinbach.[91]

The Steinbach Huskies qualified for the 1979 Allan Cup finals as Western Canadian champions, but lost the best-of-seven series 4–1.

Soccer is becoming increasingly popular, with more children in the city's soccer program than in any other sport. The men's Hanover Kickers play in Manitoba's Premier League Two, the Hanover Strikers play in Major League Two of Manitoba Major Soccer League, and the Hanover Hype playing in the Winnipeg Women's Soccer League. The city also has a Futsal league that operates during the winter.[92] The city's main soccer complex was built in 2009.

The Eastman Raiders football club, based in Steinbach, was formed in 1991. There are now over 260 athletes, ranging in age from 7 to 22, playing in the Raiders program .[93] In 2009, the Eastman Raiders midget team captured their first championship with a 20–9 victory over the St Vital Mustangs.[94]

Steinbach Curling Club and the Keystone Cinema in the background.

The Steinbach Fly-in Golf Club is an 18-hole golf course adjacent to the local airport.[95]

The Steinbach Curling Club opened in October 2014 and is located adjacent to the T.G. Smith Centre. It has five sheets and hosts a variety of different leagues, including a successful junior program.[96] The current rink replaced the previous one that was built in 1948 and located across the street.[97]

A number of Steinbach curlers have gone on to have success at the provincial level. Steinbach has also hosted two Safeway Select Provincial Men's Curling Championships (2006 and 2010).

Award-winning author Miriam Toews was born and raised in Steinbach

• Scott Bairstow, actor[98]
• Lynnette D'anna, writer
• Arnold Dyck, writer
• Patrick Friesen, poet[99]
• Allison Hossack, actress[100]
• Royden Loewen, historian
• Robert L. Peters, graphic designer
• Delbert Plett, lawyer and historian
• Al Reimer, writer
• Byron Rempel, writer
• Miriam Toews, novelist[101]
• Andrew Unger, writer
• Erich Vogt, physicist
• Roy Vogt, economist and writer

Chris Neufeld, curler

• Jon Barkman, former professional hockey player
• Ken Block, former professional hockey player
• Paul Dyck, former professional hockey player, head coach of Steinbach Pistons
• Andrew Harris, Canadian football player for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (CFL)[102]
• Dale Krentz, former professional hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings (NHL)
• Ralph Krueger, head coach of the Buffalo Sabres (NHL)
• Chris Neufeld, curler, Brier champion[103]
• Denni Neufeld, curler
• Jeff Penner, professional hockey player
• Vic Peters, curler, Brier champion[103]
• Michelle Sawatzky-Koop, Olympian, volleyball
• Sean Tallaire, former professional hockey player
• Ian White, former professional hockey player

Steinbach's Royal Canoe

• Julian Austin, country musician
• The Pets, rock band, forerunner of The Waking Eyes[104]
• Royal Canoe, indie rock band
• Shingoose, Ojibwa folk singer
• The Undecided, pop-punk band
• The Waking Eyes, alternative rock band

• Robert Banman, former MLA, provincial cabinet minister
• Leonard Barkman, former mayor and MLA[105]
• Henry Braun (politician), mayor of Abbotsford, British Columbia
• Albert Driedger, former MLA and cabinet minister
• Jake Epp, former MP and federal cabinet minister[106]
• Ted Falk, MP
• Kelvin Goertzen, MLA and current provincial cabinet minister[107]
• Russ Hiebert, MP[108]
• Judy Klassen, MLA
• Raymond Loewen, businessman and politician
• Peter Olfert, labour leader
• Helmut Pankratz, mayor and MLA
• A.D. Penner, mayor
• Vic Toews, politician