Rapid City is an unincorporated community recognized as a

local urban district A local urban district is a type of unincorporated community within the Canadian province of Manitoba. According to ''The Municipal Act'', a local urban district is a locality wholly within a rural municipality that "has at least 250 residents and ...

that also once held town status in southwest

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 within the

Rural Municipality of Oakview The Rural Municipality of Oakview is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Manitoba, incorporated on January 1, 2015 as a result of the amalgamation of the rural municipalities of Blanshard, Saskatchewan, and the town of Ra ...

. It is located about 30 km north of

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name * Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

. Rapid City is a farming community that is developed on the banks of the

Little Saskatchewan River The Little Saskatchewan River is a river in western Manitoba. It originates in Riding Mountain National Park at Lake Audy and flows about south through the communities of Minnedosa and Rapid City. Its approximate length is 185 km. It join ...

. The dam and reservoir in Rapid City were built by the province in 1961, the reservoir stores and provides a water supply and recreational facility for the community.

History

In the 1870s as the railroad expanded, settlers were drawn to the area to build their homes and set up their businesses. The community was originally called Ralston's Colony (after John Ralston, an early settler). Around 1877 it was decided to rename the community Rapid City. Since the community was on the banks of the Little Saskatchewan River and it was a "rapid stream" they chose "rapid" and "city" reflecting the optimism of those early settlers. During the 1880s many awaited the arrival of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

lines Canadian

transcontinental railway A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

that would bring with it a certain building boom. While people assumed that the projected northerly route away from

Portage la Prairie, Manitoba Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area of the city was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

would take it through Rapid City and its narrow river crossing, the route suddenly changed to a more westerly route. This brought it through the location of present-day Brandon, resulting in the boom and growth of that city.

Education

Rapid City Elementary School provides K-8 education for children in the community, and is part of the Rolling River School Division.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Rapid City had a population of 796 living in 353 of its 364 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 478. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In 2011, the average dwelling is home to 2.3 people. The median value of a household in Rapid City is $100,317, almost three times lower than the national median at $280,552. The median income an individual makes is $27,088, and the median (after-tax) income in Rapid City is $43,199, lower than the national median at $54,089. Almost every person in Rapid City reported their

mother tongue A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(97.6%). The 2011 National Household Survey reported that everyone in the community was

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, however 13.3% of the population claim to have some Aboriginal ancestry. 56.0% of the residents are of a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

faith, and 42.9% say they have no religious beliefs.

References

Manitoba Community Profiles - Town of Rapid City
{{Authority control Designated places in Manitoba Former towns in Manitoba Local urban districts in Manitoba Populated places disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in Manitoba