Town of Niverville | |
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Motto: Where you belong | |
Location of Niverville in Manitoba | |
Coordinates: 49°36′20″N 97°02′30″W / 49.60556°N 97.04167°WCoordinates: 49°36′20″N 97°02′30″W / 49.60556°N 97.04167°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Manitoba |
Region | Eastman |
Established | 1874 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Myron Dyck |
• Governing Body | Town Council |
• MP (Provencher) | Ted Falk |
• MLA (Morris) | Shannon Martin |
Elevation | 236 m (774 ft) |
Population (2016 Census) | |
• Total | 4,083 |
• Density | 1,771.1/km2 (4,587/sq mi) |
Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
• Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
Postal Code | R0A 1E0; R0A 0A1; R0A 0A2 |
Website | Town of Niverville |
Niverville is a town in the Canadian province of Manitoba, located approximately 30 kilometers south of Winnipeg. This primarily farming community has seen an influx of people moving from the city looking to raise a family outside of the 'big city' influence. This migration has made Niverville one of the youngest and fastest growing communities in Manitoba. The town is located at the crossing of Provincial Road 311 and the CPR Emerson rail line, between Provincial Road 200 and Provincial Trunk Highway 59. Niverville's population at the 2011 census was 3,450, up 43.7% from its 2006 level of 2,464. The town lies between the northwest corner of the Rural Municipality of Hanover and the southeastern portion of the Rural Municipality of Ritchot.
Niverville is named after 18th-century explorer and fur trader Chevalier Joseph-Claude Boucher 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. Originally within the Rural Municipality of Hanover, Niverville was incorporated as a village in 1969 and later as a town in 1993.
Niverville's history is closely tied to grain. Although first settled by people of British ancestry, with names like Stott, Church, and Wallace, an influx of the first Canadian Mennonite, Low-German 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 Germanic low lands and Asian steppes, came originally from the Neatherlands (their place of origin), moving to East Germany in the 17th century, then Russia under the protection of Katherine the Great, before finally migrating and 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 newest and largest 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. Many inhabitants today are from Mennonite or British stock, with a growing number of immigrants of other backgrounds.