Springfeld (Saskatchewan, Canada)

Springfeld, also spelled Springfelt or Springfield, (German for "Spring Field") was an unincorporated Mennonite hamlet, often called a street village (Straßendorf), in the Swift Current Mennonite Reserve located at: SW¼- 5-14-13-W3. This is about 3.2 km (2.0 miles) north of the community of Wymark, Saskatchewan. The village street runs north and south and it initially held about 20 households. Though the Swift Current Mennonite Reserve was established in 1904 and though restricted to members of the Reinländer Mennoniten Gemeinde of Manitoba, by 1911 an active Krimmer Mennonite Brethren congregation was in the hamlet. The congregation met in the German School building which had living quarters for the teacher at one end of the school. Over the years the teachers who taught in this school were: John Wiebe, Jacob Fehr, John Wolfe, Klaus Wiebe, Dietrich Dyck and Jacob Wiebe. A small cemetery was also established at the northern end of the hamlet.

In 1911 this Springfeld congregation reported that they baptised 24 person and had a total membership of 74 with about 100 students attending Sunday School. The congregation held morning services, afternoon Sunday School and evening prayer services and in winter on Wednesdays they sometimes held Bible readings. In the winter of 1910-11 they had a visit from Joseph W. Tschetter of Chicago and in the following summer a visit from the Heinrich (Henry) C. Bartel family, missionaries to China. In November 1912 they received a visit for pastor David W. Tschetter from Bridgewater South Dakota. After 1912 there are no more reports on this congregation in the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren yearbooks. This may indicate that they returned to their Reinländer roots.

In the decade at the end of the First World War the Province of Saskatchewan began punishing families for not sending their children to public schools. In 1919 English language public school, Amphion no. 4055, established by the province of Saskatchewan about 2 km north of Springfeld. In the first school year only four children of the Jacob B. Wall family attended. However, in the 1920-21 school year more Reinländer families began. This conflict with the Canadian government over German language schools caused a significant number of the Reserve members to sell their farms and move to Mexico. The German school was subsequently closed and in 1927 the abandoned German school building was dismantled.

Maps

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Bibliography

Jahrbuch der Krimmer Mennoniten Brüder Gemeinde. (1911 and 1912 Yearbooks)

Patchwork of Memories. Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Wymark & District History Book Committee, 1985. p.80.

Author(s)	Victor G Wiebe
Date Published	October 2019

Cite This Article

MLA style

Wiebe, Victor G. "Springfeld (Saskatchewan, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. October 2019. Web. 25 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Springfeld_(Saskatchewan,_Canada)&oldid=164838.

APA style

Wiebe, Victor G. (October 2019). Springfeld (Saskatchewan, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 25 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Springfeld_(Saskatchewan,_Canada)&oldid=164838.

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