125^th Manitoba Mennonite Anniversary

West Reserve Anniversary Plans In High Gear

Planning for the 125^th anniversary celebrations of the first arrival of Mennonites on the West Reserve in July, 1875, is now well underway. They landed at Fort Dufferin, West Lynne, before moving out to settle on the treeless Reserve area.

By the fall of 1875 close to 300 Mennonite families had settled in 18 villages in this partially surveyed area west of the Red River. Here, on the United States border between Emerson and the Pembina Hills, they found what they were looking for--fine prairie land with few settlers on it. An Order in Council of April 25, 1876, completed the legal arrangements for settling this reserve, over 500,000 acres.

Anniversary celebrations of Mennonite settlement in the West Reserve are being planned in various communities. A specially-appointed 125^th MMHS anniversary committee, the Historic Sites and Monuments committee, and a local nine-person Dufferin reenactment program committee have combined their efforts to organize these events.

Here is a brief update on events and activities in the 125^th programme:

The main event will be a special landing reenactment (with a drama written by Wilmer Penner, Steinbach, and directed by Henry G. Ens, Reinland) planned for Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. on 16 July 2000, at the original site of Fort Dufferin just north of Emerson/West Lynne near the Canada-USA border. Watch for detailed announcements in the media and special mailings.

A memorial in the form of signs and symbolic posts, with plaques, to recall the West Reserve Post Road will be erected. An unveiling of the project is expected in August. Watch for a special article feature on the Post Road in the upcoming issues of Heritage Posting.

CFAM radio spots, and other features, will highlight important Mennonite historical events related to the West Reserve, and underscore events to come.

A West Reserve Mennonite history insert will be published on 26 June 2000 in the local papers of Altona (Red River Valley Echo), Winkler (Winkler Times), Morden (Morden Times), and Carman (The Valley Leader). The editorial committee is headed by Esther Epp Tiessen at the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Winnipeg.

Community events like the homecoming of Neubergthal, and the former Edenthal and Edenburg villages (held on 30 June-2 July 2000, and 1-2 July 2000 respectively), as well as various family events will carry 125^th anniversary features. Watch for exhibitions, etc. at area festivals like the Sunflower Festival (a 125^th parade in Altona), Harvest Festival (a Low German drama in Winkler), and Corn and Apple Festival (Morden), as well as joint East and West Reserve events at Pioneer Days (5-8 August 2000) at the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach.

A special memorial to Ältester Johann Wiebe (1837-1906) of the Reinländer Mennonite church will be unveiled at a Wiebe family gathering to be held at Reinland on 22 July 2000.

We are hoping that CJOB and CBC Winnipeg will be featuring the anniversary in some way also.

Volume III of the West Reserve Historical Series, edited by Adolf Ens, Jake Peters, and Otto Hamm (Morden), is to be published in the autumn. A history book on Plum Coulee is being prepared by Cleo Heinrichs and Agatha Giesbrecht. The republication of the book Reinland: An Experience in Community, written by Peter D. Zacharias (1976) is being undertaken at Reinland.

Many families have chosen the year 2000 for reunions. A few of these are the Hoeppner reunion July 21-23 at Steinbach, a Heinrich Wiebe reunion on July 21-23 at Providence College, Otterburne, a Jacob H. Dyck reunion at Altona, and a Bergen reunion July 28-29 at Gretna.

For further information on any of the above items contact Conrad Stoesz, chair of the 125^th Anniversary Committee, at 204-888-6781 or 669-6575.