Niverville, Manitoba

For other uses, see Niverville.

Niverville is a small town in the Canadian province of Manitoba, located 28.6 km south of the Perimeter Highway which encircles the provincial capital, Winnipeg. It serves mostly as a dormitory community or exurb for people who work in Winnipeg but prefer to reside in a lower-cost environment. The town is located at the crossing of Provincial Road 311 and the CPR Emerson rail line, between Provincial Trunk Highways 75 and 59, providing an excellent rail link and two high-speed four-lane transport routes to and from the provincial capital, as well as to the USA ,which is 82.5 km to the south (41 miles as the crow flies). Niverville along with the rest of South Eastern Manitoba is growing quickly; its population as of the 2006 census was 2464, up 28.3% from its 2001 level of 1921.

Geography

The town lies well within the Red River Valley, at an altitude of 773 feet above sea level. Since the Red River Valley lay, some 10,800 years ago, beneath the pristine and expansive glacial Lake Agassiz, the land is pancakely flat, and the rich black soils bring some of the finest crops in the world, including hard red spring wheat and canola. Sugar beets have also been successfully produced here in former times. The area when originally explored was abundant in prairie wetlands, the result of large blocks of ice remaining for a time after the ice age, depressing the land in spots. These depressions provided a habitat for a wide range of bird and other species; however through artificial drainage for crop cultivation in the surrounding area, the early settlers of the area caused changes the natural order, and the natural ecosystems with their multiplicity of wildlife no longer exist or are diminished.

The flat nature of the land, and an impervious underlying layer of clay, combine to provide suitable breeding areas for mosquitoes. Niverville was formerly threatened by spring flooding from the Red River of the North, most recently in "Flood of the Century" when temporary dikes were hastily thrown up to protect the town from the amoeba-like spread of the river. To protect itself, the town has since 1997 constructed a permanent dike to the west of the town, shielding it from the Red. Aquifers which are charged to the east in Sandilands Provincial Forest extend beneath Niverville, providing abundant water resources. Where they have been permitted to remain, poplar bluffs shade the land providing habitat for the rare yellow lady's slipper and the tiger lily. Many bird species (Purple Martin, Barn Swallow, English Sparrow, Wren, Killdeer, Meadowlark, Scarlet Tanager, American Robin) choose the Niverville area for their summer range.

Sociology

The town offers many services, as well as an elementary school (K-6), and a high school (7-12). Several churches serve the distinctive threads of Mennonites, as well as other Christian faith communities. Niverville's signature event is the annual 'Niverville Olde Tyme Country Fair' (Niverville Fair Website), which is held the second weekend of June. There are several significant employers in Niverville, including Spectus Moulders, The Puratone Corporation and Wm Dyck and Sons. Services include: banking, hair care, construction trades, gasoline sales, restaurants, medical and dental clinics, massages, movie rentals, and even a postal outlet (R0A 1E0). Many inhabitants are from Mennonite or British stock.

History

Niverville is named for an 18th century explorer and fur trader – Joseph-Claude Boucher, Chevalier de Niverville. This choice of name was made by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1877 – one year before the railway into town was built and an official town plan was actually registered.

Niverville's history is closely tied to grain. Although first settled by folks of British ancestry, with names like Stott, Church, and Wallace, an influx of the first Canadian Mennonite farmers in 1874 soon saw their population eclipse that of the earlier group. These settlers, with farming skills vastly more suitable than those of the Anglophones due to their experience with farming on the Asian steppes, came from Russia, landing at the nearby junction of the Red and Rat rivers, making their way east to what was known as the East Reserve, essentially a gift of land from the Canadian government. The first grain elevator in western Canada, a unique round structure, had recently been built in Niverville by William Hespeler, a man whose name has recently been appropriated for Niverville's park. It was from this elevator that the first western Canadian barley was shipped to overseas markets. The hardiness and determination of the early Mennonite settlers, coming from a harsh environment in Russia, ensured that this unforgiving land would be transformed into a place from which livelihoods could be wrested, albeit at considerable effort and cost. In later years, these generous settlers sent grain in relief to others suffering famine in Russia.

Niverville's history and progress has not been without setbacks. Two massive floods, one in 1950 and a second in 1997, nearly deluged the town. In 1997, it was saved only by hastily erected earthen dikes.

One odd piece of Niverville history is the Rock Festival which took place in the summer of 1970 on an abandoned farm 1.5 miles east of the junction of highways 59 and 305. Widely publicized, it attracted approximately 12,000 young folks, mainly from Winnipeg, to hear a variety of rock and folk bands. Having nowhere to park save a summerfallowed field and some dirt roads, everything turned into a sea of mud when a sudden thunderstorm struck, cutting the festival short. Not wishing to lose the opportunity, many festival patrons shed all clothing (including underwear) and splashed around in the rain and mud while waiting for any one of several local Mennonite farmers who cashed in on the opportunity, charging $5 apiece to tow cars back to the pavement of Highway 59.

References

• Niverville Chamber of Commerce
• Town of Niverville