Manitoba’s small towns and villages offer prime opportunities to learn about our province’s past.
Churches and elevators are often the oldest remaining buildings in these communities, and these can give insight about early settlers and the towns they established. Many churches in rural Manitoba have been maintained or restored. Historic elevators aren’t so lucky. Once a hallmark of many towns, they’re increasingly being demolished.
On a recent day trip around the Rural Municipality of Grassland in southwestern Manitoba, I checked out both kinds of structures.
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My first stop was at Grand Clairière. Once a thriving Francophone village with 600 residents, it can now be classed as a ghost town. Only a church, a hall and a few houses remain.
The settlement was started by a priest from France, Father Jean Gairie. He arrived in 1888 at Oak Lake, the most westerly parish accessible by train at that time, and set off southward. After finding a few Métis families living north of the Lauder Sandhills, he decided to settle there and called the place Grand Clairière. He encouraged others to follow him from France and later, Belgium. A few more Métis families also came.
Construction on a small church began in 1890, but it was soon enlarged to suit the rapidly growing population. A school started, using the church or rectory.
Later, a three-storey convent was built and the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions arrived. In 1898, the original rectory was transformed into a boarding school, allowing children from farther away to attend.
According to the Manitoba Historical Society website, the first church was later destroyed by a tornado.
A new one was erected in 1907. In the 1920s, that structure underwent major repairs and additions, including a new entrance, bell tower and sacristy. In 1928, a parish hall was constructed and is still in operation.
A new two-storey public school was built in 1924 after the first school and convent burned. A different order of nuns arrived and taught in the community until 1955. That facility operated until the rural school consolidations of 1966.
Several businesses operated in the community over the years, including two general stores, a bank, post office, flour mill, blacksmith shop and a shed that sold both machinery and coal. The last operating business was the blacksmith shop, which closed in 1976.
Today, the dominant feature of Grand Clairière is still St. Jean’s Roman Catholic Church. Visitors can take time to wander around the large attached cemetery. A stone monument lists the area’s priests from 1888 to 1995, and includes a plaque commemorating the school.
For more information, go to this local tourism website, or look for a copy of the local history book, “Settlers, Sand and Steeple.”
On to Hartney
A few kilometres east of Grand Clairière is the village of Hartney.
There is also a historic church here, one that was started by English settlers instead of the French/Belgian/Métis heritage of Grand Clairière. This church displays two different nameplates: St. Andrew’s Anglican Church and the Old English Church.
Originally established as St. Andrew’s, it was built between 1893 and 1894, using many of the basic architectural traits of English churches, such as a steep gable roof and pointed Gothic windows with coloured glass.
Inside the church, the original wooden pews, exposed rafters, altar and pulpit still remain.
The Anglican parish that once operated there closed in the 1970s, but the building has since been renewed as The Old English Church, with weekly services still held.
Another village landmark is the Hartney United Church, which is classified as an Historic Site of Manitoba. It was built in 1928, three years after the local Presbyterian and Methodist churches united, and so is approaching its centennial. It was built on the site of the former Methodist church and incorporated part of that building as a wing.
In 1960, another village church was moved to the site and connected as a hall.
Interestingly, the former Presbyterian church on East Railroad Street is now a private residence, but has kept most of the original windows and vestry.
That old elevator
The Hartney elevator has also gone through different stages. It was built as a Manitoba Pool Elevator in 1969, with a crib annex added in 1980 and two steel tanks installed in 1986, giving it a total capacity of about 118,000 bushels.
After the 1998 merger of Manitoba Pool with its Alberta counterpart, the name changed to Agricore. Within two years of that change, the facility was closed and sold.
It is still used for private grain storage and appears to have had renovations in the last few years.
A drive around Hartney will also reveal many older style businesses and homes. For pictures and information about these, check out the community’s listing in the Manitoba Historical Society archives.
