Esterhazy

History

Esterhazy is reputed to be named for Count Paul Otto d'Esterhazy, an immigrant agent who was christened Johannes Packh, but at age 35 claimed he had "incontrovertible proof" that he was a Hungarian aristocrat of the Esterházy family. This claim was never recognized by the Esterházy family, one of the wealthiest families in Hungary. A year after making his claim, he immigrated to Saskatchewan, south of the current location of the town of Esterhazy, and in 1886 helped settle 35 Hungarian families, founding the colony of Kaposvar, named after the Hungarian city Kaposvár. The colony flourished, and many more immigrants settled the area as the years went by. In 1905 the town of Esterhazy was officially founded. The area that is now the township of Esterhazy was first settled by English settlers in 1882, who founded Sumner Parish in the north. Later colonies included the Swedes to the west, Czechs to the southwest, northeast a German colony, northwest a Welsh one, and a Jewish settlement in the southeast, near Wapella, Saskatchewan. In 1962, IMC Global (now Mosaic), a mining company, completed the shaft for a potash mine, and today the two joint mines, K1 and K2, combined produce more potash than any other mine in the world, granting Esterhazy the title of "Potash capital of the world." On July 8, 2009 the Esterhazy Flour Mill was designated as a national historic site of Canada, and is one of 45 Saskatchewan National Historic Sites. The plaque commemorating the national historic site designation was unveiled on September 3, 2011. Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament for Yorkton—Melville unveiled the plaque on behalf of Peter Kent, Canada's Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada. Our Lady of Assumption Roman Catholic Church, also known…