Neubergthal designated historic site at homecoming

by Elmer Heinrichs

The population of the village of Neubergthal southeast of here more than tripled at its July 1 homecoming and the unveiling of a Parks Canada plaque with a commemorative inscription designating the Mennonite street village as one with national historical significance.

The unveiling by two of Neubergthal's oldest and two of its youngest residents on Canada Day on the schoolyard near the old cemetery revealed a plaque with a maroon background and gold lettering, standing 40 inches high. It also features three pictures, as well as text in English, French and Low German.

At the ceremony program, William Neville, Manitoba representative on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada said the board advises Parks Canada on matters relating to Canada's history to ensure that people, places and events are recognized.

"Immigration has shaped the history of the country," said Neville, citing Neubergthal as an example of a Mennonite street village, which retains historical and archaeological significance.

Jake P. Hamm, an 83-year-old village resident, extended an official welcome and applause in accord broke out when he suggested that Canada was the best country in which to live.

Historian Adolf Ens, presenting background to the occasion, said in the 1870s when both the United States and Canada were eying westward expansion, Mennonites accepted an invitation from Canada to settle in Manitoba. Mennonites in church groups came transplanting a way of life from the steppes of Russia to the wide-open Canadian prairies.

The designation recognized the Mennonite street village as an example of settlement that showed that the open western prairies could be successfully settled.

"The village, a unique expression of community, practiced a unique equality where school and church were closely connected with a family oriented administration."

"A wide street, the planting of poplars and linking barns to houses in a prairie Mennonite village provided a successful pattern of settlement on the open Prairies," added Ens.

Greetings were extended by Emerson MLA Jack Penner, Altona Deputy-Mayor Terry Wiebe, Rhineland Reeve John Falk, and Alf Redekopp, president, Manitoba Mennonite Historical Society. It was briefly noted that Mennonites often settled on land others by-passed, and that Mennonites here - those settling west of the Red River - are now marking their 125th anniversary.

In an address on behalf of Parks Canada, Ms. Dawn Bronson suggested "heritage really does give us a glimpse of ourselves. This village connects people to each other, with a local interest in preserving the past.

"Parks Canada hopes Canadians will continue to be advocates of preservation," she said.

Neubergthal today consists of about 100 people and about 40 yards. Many of the people living here are direct descendants of the pioneers who settled here. Village elders Henry F. Hamm and Helene Klippenstein, and young people Cody Friesen and Kirsten Hamm unveiled the plaque.

In part the plaque's inscription reads "Neubergthal is an excellent surviving example of a Mennonite street village, a distinctive form of prairie settlement in western Canada.

"Between 1874 and 1900, Mennonites founded over a hundred such villages east and west of the Red River in southern Manitoba. Closely knit by kinship, religion and culture, the newcomers worked co-operatively and demonstrated that permanent agricultural settlement could succeed on the open prairie away from the river valleys."

The homecoming festivities included tours, a program featuring music, stories and Low German skits, a barn dance, a Sunday morning worship service and lots of visiting.

Neubergthal residents Henry F. Hamm, Cody Friesen, Kirsten Hamm and Helene Klippenstein with newly-unveiled plaque designating the Mennonite street village as one with historical significance. (Elmer Heinrichs Photo)