COLUMN: Flashback, June 1, 1962 – Thriving village starts with Ste Anne trading post

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/12/2020 (1588 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Hudson Bay trading post, on the Dawson Trail at the east end of Ste Anne, is one of the few remaining historic buildings in the area and serves as a reminder of the beginnings of settlement in the Southeast.

Like many other communities along the Seine River and the Dawson Trail, Ste Anne can look back on the history of a community which is almost as old as the province itself.

In the early 1870’s, Ste Anne des Chenes got its start as a tiny settlement of homes built around the Hudson Bay trading post. While the old trading post building is still standing, it has long since outlived its purpose as a store and now is used mainly as a storehouse by the Langill family, which owns the property.

A look back to the earliest settlement at Ste Anne is necessary to put in perspective the amount of progress this tiny village has made during the 1950’s and early 1960’s, according to Carillon News community correspondent Mrs H. Beriaut.

“The Trans-Canada Highway, which passes two miles north of Ste Anne, and the Number 12 Highway to the south, have made a great deal of difference to the district, in more recent history.”

Another big improvement has been the step-up of telephone service, from day service only with one operator on the job, to an automatic telephone exchange with about 400 subscribers.

The electrification program, which reached the Ste Anne farming district just after the war, has proven to be a great help. In the past few years, many are upgrading their service so they can use more machines and appliances.

And like any rural community, schools play an important role in the growth of the Ste Anne community. Two modern schools, built a couple of years ago, fill the bill in Ste Anne.

The elementary school has an enrolment of 360 pupils in the first eight grades and the high school has 140 students taking grades nine to 12. The two schools employ a staff of 20 teachers, and pupils from outside the village are transported by bus.

Prior to the arrival of Dr. Francis Patrick Doyle, in 1948, Ste Anne residents had to go to Steinbach or Winnipeg for medical services.

The Ste Anne Hospital opened in 1954 and Dr. Doyle is given much of the credit for getting that project started. Dr. Robert Lafreniere became the community’s second doctor when he started his career in medicine there in 1956.

And while health care and education have always been a priority, recreation has certainly not been overlooked in the Ste Anne area. The district is well provided for, with a good theatre, two halls for receptions and meetings, a curling rink with two sheets of ice, a skating rink, and a large sports grounds, where the community baseball team holds tournaments during the summer months.

The Seine River Diversion, which was completed in the fall of 1961, and the natural gas pipeline, which passed through the district in 1960, have provided two more examples why Ste Anne is proving to be a desirable place to live.

The diversion will serve as protection against the type of flooding the community was faced with in 1959. And many of the homes in the village have taken advantage of the natural gas pipeline to install this new kind of heating.

Today, Ste Anne has 182 residences, five grocery stores, four restaurants, two bulk oil dealers, two schools, two halls, two doctors, two barber shops, a Catholic Church, a convent, a hospital, a municipal office, the County Court, a credit union, a hotel, a grain elevator, a CNR station, a theatre, a curling rink, a bakery, a television and radio repair service, a dry goods and school supplies store, and any number of electricians, plumbers, carpenters and other tradesmen.

Plans are to build a lot more homes in the village in the coming year and a residence for elderly citizens is also on the drawing board.

All in all, Mrs Beriault says it is no exaggeration to say the Ste Anne is keeping in step with progress.