Edenburg is an unincorporated community located about 4 miles northwest of the town of

Aberdeen, Saskatchewan Aberdeen is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada. Located 18 minutes north-east of Saskatoon, it has a population of 716 people. History Aberdeen was first settled by immigrants of Russian, English, Scottish and Ukrainian descent in the 1890s to ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Edenburg has a population of 30, and is a mixed use residential/agricultural area.

History

Edenburg is a living example of the settlement preferences of the

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

s, originally from northern Germany (

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

) who emigrated to Canada via

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Although governmental policy of the day required the farmers to take up residence on their own

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

quarter (a portion of land 1/2 mile square), the Mennonites preferred and sometimes were given governmental exemption to live in communities similar to those they had left in Europe. Thus, Edenburg and many other such communities sprang up with narrow frontages on the roadway, yet had their back boundaries set rather far from the edge of the road. The effect is similar to the river lots favoured in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and by the

Métis people The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They hav ...

. In 1902, just as the

Canadian Northern Railways The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Mani ...

was constructed past Aberdeen, Jacob Unrau and his family came from

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. He homesteaded the north-west quarter of section 14, township 39, range 3, west of the third meridian but bought 15-39-3-3 of what Canada had given the railways. He founded Edenburg on this section, giving each of his children, as they married, a strip of land and built a church and a graveyard. In 1904, daughter Anna married Cornelius A. Ens and was given one such lot. Anna, who died in childbirth with her child Isaac in 1913, was an early entry into the graveyard. Ens established a store in 1918. Edenburg was situated on an east–west road, and gradually people settled across the road and completed the community. Until 1921 Edenburg had its own school taught in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, for its students and Mennonites in neighbouring farms.

Social services

As of 2005, neither schooling nor business are carried on any more in Edenburg though some farm the surrounding land, with residents travelling to Aberdeen or to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

for most commercial and educational matters or to commute to work.

References

{{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Saskatchewan Aberdeen No. 373, Saskatchewan Division No. 15, Saskatchewan

History

Social services

See also

References