East Reserve

TheEast Reservewas ablock settlementinEastern Manitobainitially set aside by theGovernment of Canadaexclusively for settlement byRussian Mennonitesettlers in 1873 (although settlement did not occur until 1874).

East Reserve
block settlement
East Reserve marker atMennonite Heritage VillageinSteinbach, Manitoba,2020
Country	Canada
Province	Manitoba
Region	Eastern Manitoba
Established	March 3, 1873
First settled	1874
Population (1878)
• Total	3,000
Other names	The Mennonite Reserve (1874) Hespeler (1880)
Fate	Now part ofSteinbachand theRural Municipality of Hanover

Most of the East Reserve's earliest settlers were from theKleine GemeindeorBergthaler Mennonitechurches.

Settlers of the East Reserve established over 50 villages, a few of which remain today, including the current-dayCity of Steinbach,as well asGrunthal,Kleefeld,andBlumenort.

History

After signingTreaty 1with theAnishinabeandSwampy CreeFirst Nations in 1871, the Government of Canada sentWilliam HespelertoRussiato recruitMennonitefarmers to the region of Manitoba, which had just joinedConfederation.The first Mennonites to visit the area in 1872 were Bernhard Warkentin andJacob Yost Shantz,a Swiss Mennonite from Ontario, who wrote aNarrative of a journey to Manitoba,a report which helped convince Russian Mennonites to move to the area.

In 1873, twelve Mennonite delegates from theRussian Empire,toured Manitoba andKansas.The group looked at various locations in Manitoba, including thewestern partof the province, but chose theeastern regionbecause of its proximity toWinnipeg.

On March 3, 1873, the Canadian government set aside eight townships in the area for exclusive use of Russian Mennonite settlers, with the area initially being named "The Mennonite Reserve".

Despite inferior farming land compared to Kansas, four delegates, representing theBergthalerandKleine Gemeindechurches, decided to recommend their people move to Manitoba because of the guarantees offered by the Canadian government. David Klassen, Jacob Peters, Heinrich Wiebe, and Cornelius Toews signed what they called aPrivilegium,or agreement, with the Canadian government outlining religious freedom, military exemption, and land. This land became known as the East Reserve, because it was east of theRed River.

Mennonite settlers landed here at the forks of the Rat and Red River in 1874.

In 1874, Mennonite settlers first arrived in the confluence of the Red River andRat Riverand gathered in immigration sheds that Shantz had set up nearby before spreading across the region and selecting numerous village sites. In the years that followed, thousands of Mennonites settled in this area.

The Mennonite settlers established dozens of villages, a few of which remain today, includingSteinbach,now an independent municipality, as well asGrunthal,Kleefeld,andBlumenort.The first village settled was Gruenfeld, now Kleefeld, though most of the other villages were settled within months.

The reserve was governed using the system the Mennonites had learned inPrussia.Each village had a Schulz, or mayor, while the whole reserve had an Oberschulz. Delegate Jacob Peters of Vollwerk (now part ofMitchell, Manitoba) was the first oberschulz.

As the home of the Bergthaler Bishop Gerhard Wiebe, the village ofChortitz(now Randolph, Manitoba) quickly became the centre for trade and local government and an unofficial "capital" of the East Reserve, though over time theKleine Gemeindevillage of Steinbach overtook Chortitz in prominence.East Reserve Bergthalers adopted the namedChortitzer Mennonite Conferencein 1878.

In 1876, a second larger reserve, called theWest Reserveon the west side of the Red River, was established as the land of East Reserve was viewed by many as limited and unsuitable for farming. As such, "The Mennonite Reserve" name was quickly changed to "East Reserve" following this second reserve.A smallerScratching River settlementwas also established in 1875 on theMorris River.

Cairn honouring Jacob Peters, obserschulze of East Reserve, in Mitchell, Manitoba

In 1877,Lord Dufferinvisited the Mennonite villages of the East Reserve and, from a rise just west of Steinbach could see "half a dozen villages" in the distance. Lord Dufferin was greeted by Oberschulz Jacob Peters along with more than a 1000 local residents who showed up to greet him.

The East Reserve eventually opened up to settlement from other groups and became known as theRural Municipality of Hanover.In 1880, the Manitoba government renamed the East Reserve asHespelerand a year later, in 1881, the reserve was divided between theR.M. of Hespeler,no longer in existence, and theRural Municipality of Hanover,which is slightly larger than the original East Reserve.By the 1880s, approximately half the population of the East Reserve moved to the West Reserve due to superior soil conditions.

Rather than using open field farming, Mennonites lived in street villages calledStrassendorfs,and builthousebarns,none of which are extant and in situ in the East Reserve, though two original examples can be seen at theMennonite Heritage Villagein Steinbach. Beginning in 1909, the villages began to be disbanded in favour of open-field farming and by the 1920s no traditional Strassendorfs were left in the region, with some dissolving completely and others, such as Steinbach, evolving into modern communities. Almost 150 years later, the area still retains a significant presence of Mennonites to this day.