Langenburg, Saskatchewan
Description
Langenburg is a town in the rural municipality of Langenburg, RM No. 181, located within the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities SARM Division No. 1 and Census Division No. 5, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.Langenburg lies on the Yellowhead Highway in the southeastern part of the province, 15 km west of the Manitoba border, at the junction with Highway 8. The nearest city is Yorkton located 70 km northwest along Highway 16.HistoryWhat would later become the Langenburg district was surveyed by the federal government in 1880 and British settlers were already established to the northeast of present day Marchwell in the Wolverine district in the early part of the decade. Settlers of predominantly German origin began to arrive in the Langenburg area in the mid-1880s, attracted by the lure of free homesteads granted by the federal government and a promise of freedom and prosperity. The original community was called "Colony Hohenlohe" after Prince Hohenlohe von Langenburg, a German nobleman who had visited western Canada in 1883 and subsequently recommended it to German emigrants as more suitable destination than the United States. In the winter of 1886–87 the Manitoba & North-Western Railway reached the area and a station named "Langenburg" was established. By 1888 the small colony could boast of a store with a post office. A year earlier, in September 1887, the Langenburg School District No. 105 had been established but it was not until August 1889 that funds to build a school were secured. When the school house opened in May 1890 there were about 40 resident ratepayers in the community and nine students on the rolls, rising a short time later to 13. There was little growth over the following decade. In 1899 an application to become incorporated as a village was unsuccessful—the number of permanent dwellings required for incorporation was 15 and there were only five. In 1902, however, a new wave of immigration began with Scandinavian settlers arriving from the United States, and by April 1903 Langenburg had gained its village status.