Cooks Creek is an unincorporated community in the

Rural Municipality of Springfield Springfield is a rural municipality (RM) in Manitoba, Canada. It stretches from urban industrial development on the eastern boundary of the City of Winnipeg, through urban, rural residential, agricultural and natural landscapes, to the Agassiz Pro ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

is home to two churches, a community centre and a museum. The Immaculate Conception

Ukrainian Greek Catholic , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church (sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's C ...

Church is an intricately designed wooden

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

featuring nine cupolas and built almost entirely with volunteer labour under the direction of the amateur architect and priest Father Phillip Ruh. Construction was started in 1930 and completed in 1952. The structure was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1996. The church grounds play host to a biennial two day medieval festival on the last weekend of July. The St. Michael's

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Church, which is often referred to as the "Polish Church", is located one mile North of town and shares property with the Cooks Creek Heritage Museum (CCHM). The parish was established in 1899 while construction of the church in its present form finished in 1922. The CCHM was founded in 1968 by parish priest Father Alois Krivanek and housed in the former rectory building built in 1937. The Church/Museum grounds now contain several pioneer buildings and is the site of an annual "Heritage Day" celebration on the last weekend in August.

History

European settlement in the area began in the mid-1860s with four families residing there by 1867. The hamlet was named ''Cooks Creeks'' after Captain Joseph Cook; whose name was adopted in recognition for his service to the community. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

was established in 1873 on 13-12-5E and later moved. Beginning in 1897, the community saw a large influx of Polish and Ukrainian migration as a result of the immigration and settlement programs of Minister of the Interior

Clifford Sifton Sir Clifford Sifton, (March 10, 1861 – April 17, 1929), was a Canadian lawyer and a long-time Liberal politician, best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was responsible for encouraging the massive amount o ...

References

External Reading

* ''Geographic Names of Manitoba'' (pg. 53) - the Millennium Bureau of Canada
''Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception - Cooks Creek, Manitoba''

''St. Michael's RC Church''

''Cooks Creek Heritage Museum''
* ''Springfield 1st Rural Municipality in Manitoba 1873-1973''. Duglad Women's Institute. 1974. {{MBDivision12 History of Manitoba by location Localities in Manitoba Unincorporated communities in Eastman Region, Manitoba