Steinbach, Manitoba: A Community in Search of Place Through the Recovery of ifs Formative Creeks by Ronaid Mark Dick DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTIIRE University of Manitob4 Winnipeg, Manitoba April2001 A Practicum Submitted ín Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Landscape Architecture \ationarLibrav Bibliothèque nationale l*l du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et BibiiograPhic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Skeet 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Yout lils VolÌê télérênce Ou lile Nolre rélérencs The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de ceffe thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. 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Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial exfracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent êüe imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. 0-612-57531-4 Canadä TIIE T]NTVERSITY OF MANITOBA FACTTLTY OF GRADUATE STUDTES ***** COPYRIGIIT PERMISSION PAGE Steinbach, Manitoba: A Community in Search of Place Through the Recovery of its f,'ormative Creeks BY Ronald MarkDick A Thesis/Practicum submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Landscape ArchÍtecture RONALD MARI( DICK @ 2OO1 Permission has been granted to the Library of The University of Manitoba to lend or sell copies of this thesis/practicum, to the National Library of Canada to microfilm this thesis/practicum and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to Dissertations Abstracts International to publish an abstract of this thesis/practicum. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither this thesÍs/practicum nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the authorts written permission. NationalLibrary Bibliothèque nationale ¡*l du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services seruices bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Yout tils Volrc élérêncg Our lile Notre rélércnce The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microforrn, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electonic formats. la forme de microfiche/fiIm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copynght in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extacts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent êhe imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. 0-612-57531-4 Canadä Acknowledgements In addition to the members of the committee, I am deeply indebted to countless other enthusiastic individu- This practicum represents the cooperative efforts of als (too numerous to name) for freely sharing ideas and numerous individuals through many hours of dedicated stories, and making invaluable contributions at all stages work. Firstly,I would like to thank the original members from start to completion of the practicum. of my practicum committee - Professor Ted Mclachlan (chair), Department of Landscape Architecture, Univer- My sincere gratitude is also extended to the Faculty of sity of Manitoba; Dr. Royden Loewen, Chair of Menno- Graduate Studies for providing generous financial sup- nite Studies, University of Winnipeg; and Mr. Jack port through a University of Manitoba Graduate Fellow- Kehler, City Managea City of Steinbach - for sharing ship. their time arìd expertise, and offering advice, construc- tive criticism and encouragement. As the departmental I would especially like to thank my parents and family requirements regarding the practicum committee for all the experiences and opportunities which they've changed over the course of this sfudy, I would also like provided over the years, and for challenging me to to extend my sincere thanks to: Professor Alan Tate - pursue my dreams Head of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba - for stepping in as Chair of To Andrea and Raelyn - thank you for your unwaver- the advisory committee during Ted's sabbatical year; and ing patience, love, encouragement and the precious gift Professor Charlie Thomsen - Head of the Department of of time which you afforded me in the completion of this Environmental Design at the University of Manitoba - work. Each of you is truly an inspiration to me! for joining the committee as an internal reader. Dedicated to the memory of myfather John Dick. Table of Contents Abstract :.... ......i Acknowledgements ....... ii TableofContents ... iii 1.0 lntroduction ........1 1.1 TheChallenge ........2 1.2 Objectives.. ....2 1.3 Methodology . ... 3 2.0 An Examination of Place . .. 5 3.0 TheHumanLandscape.... ....13 3.1 MennoniteOrigins.... .....13 3.2 Historical Mennonite Settlement Patterns . 14 4.0 TheNatural Landscape.... ...2'l 4.1 Southeastern Manitoba Regional Context . 2 1 5.0 Experiencing a New Land .. .29 5.1 AVillageEmerges ....29 5.2 Steinbach and its "spirit of Place" . .36 6.0 ExploringSteinbach'sCreeks ...... 41 6.1 PleasuresofaPrairieStream ......41 6.2 Cental Creek . .47 6.3 NorthCreek ....51 6.4 SouthCreek ....52 7.0 RecognitionolPlace .....55 7.1 Historical Precedents . 7.2 Design Opporfunities. .. ....59 7.3 PlanDevelopment... ......66 8.0 Summary.. ...71 8.1 Observations ....71 8.2 Oppornrnities for Future Research . .71 Appendices.... ....73 References . .77 lil I .0 lntroduction village was able to foster a strong cultural identity. A unique feature ofpresent-day Steinbach settlement, Settlement on the prairies in the late nineteenth cen- which distinguishes it (and several other Mennonite tury led to a signif,rcant population gowth in Canada, villages) as an anomaly on the Canadian prairies, is its as a great number ofEuropean immigrants transplanted orientation. When the village was fust established, the their cultures to a new land. The selection of a suitable Mennonite immigrants Booled the individual quarter- location for settlement was undoubtedly a uitical con- section farmsteads they had been given by the federal sideration for these settlers, as they strove to make the goveÍrment, and aligned long, narrow strips of land most of a short growing season, and to combat the cold, perpendicular to a short branch of a creek which diago- harsh winters. As the immigrants faced the challenges nally bisected the prairie section. Rather than address- associated with their new frontier, they relied heavily ing the cardinal directions as the prairie square-mile upon the land for subsistence, and often settled along- grid dictated, these properties were thus oriented at an side river or stream corridors, which ensured an ad- approximate 45-degree skew What is ofparticular sig- equate supply ofwater and offered some protection from nificance is that these early homesreaders settled in a the prairie eiements. The city of Steinbach, Manitoba, direct response to the natural landscape, rather than in .-l_ located approximately 60 km sourh-east of Winnipeg, relation to a human-imposed grid panern which arrifi- ¡l--_ is one illustration of this form of early settlement. cially subdivided the land. The central creek was one Steinbach was established as a farming village n lB74 of three parallel creeks, all locared within the village by a group of 18 Russian Mennonite families who set- district, which together constituted Steinbach's unique y'l \ 3v tled on the eastern edge of the East Reserve land - a natural landscape. !# block set aside forthe Mennonites by the Canadian gov- Steinbach has greatly prospered and flourished over Steinbach, Manitoba as it appears today. Drawing by author ernment. It was here that these families were abie to the past 125 years. Ofthe many new homes and streets maintain their highly-praised agricultural practices built (within the original square mile section), the ma- within their traditional farm viltage settlement pattern, jority ofthese have continued to be aligned in the same and were given military abstention, language freedom orientation - either parallel or perpendicular to the cen- and provisionto exercise the deep religious convictions tral creek. As Steinbach has grown, however, the his- which v/ere a part of their heritage. As a result, the toric role and cultural-social-ecological-educational sig- Introduction .õ,rr-*' W nificance of its creeks has been largety ignored or sev- lation continueto groq the expansionpromises to place ered altogether. Portions of the creeks are in imminent direct and increasing pressures upon the three stream danger of being lost. The central creek, which runs corridors. In particular, on-going commerciai growth through Steinbach's core (Section 35-6-68), for exam- within the central core seriously threatens the remain- ple, has been diverted upstream ofthe city since it is no ing segments of the central creek. As Hough argues longer used for agricultural purposes within Steinbach, and society demonstrates, "little attention has been paid and has been deemed a spring flooding hazard. As a to understanding the natural processes that have con- result, the remaining creekbed is simply a means of tributed to the physical form of the city and which in channeling runoff accumulated within the city itself. tum have been altered by it" (Hough, 1984,2).