Anola

History

The Anola area is part of the traditional territory of Anishnaabe and Swampy Cree First Nations. In 1870, the area became part of the new province of Manitoba. In 1871, the area was covered under Treaty 1 between the British Crown and the First Nations. The treaty facilitated the settlement of southern Manitoba including agricultural settlements in the Anola area. In 1907, when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway expressed an interest in the district, the land was sold, and the village of Free Port was born. The name changed in 1912 to Anola. According to the Department of the Interior, the name Anola is an "invented name," and the place was formerly known as Richland Post Office. A 1905 letter from M. Holloway, who ran the Richland Post Office which served the area, may have prompted this conclusion. In his correspondence to the Geographic Board of Canada, it was indicated that residents were unaware of why it was so named except "as a more convenient means of referring to it than Township 10-7E."