Boissevain

History

Work began along the anticipated route of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1874, surveyors were impressed with the Turtle Mountain region and noted it would become a chief point of settlement in the coming years. The site of the town of Boissevain was decided by the CPR in 1885. By 1886 there was a blacksmith shop, a post office and two grain warehouses. As pioneer life transitioned to the comforts of a growing town, many new buildings, schools and churches were built. One of the prominent buildings constructed was the St. Matthew's Anglican Church, built with granite walls found in the local fields. Sandstone was also discovered nearby by the earlier surveyors. The sandstone was used to construct another place of worship and local landmark, the St. Paul's United Church which was completed in 1893. Like many towns in the west, Boissevain's prosperity came with the railway, in this case the CPR line was the first to arrive in 1885. Three other additional railways in the area, including the Great Northern Railway through the railway's subsidiary organized under the name of the "Brandon, Saskatchewan and Hudson Bay Railway", which meant that farmers could now ship their goods to the United States in the south while also having a link with Brandon to the north. The railways began to decline during The Great Depression and with it the fortunes of Boissevain. The Great Northern line ended service in 1936.