Ste. Agathe is a primarily

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

community in the

Rural Municipality of Ritchot The Rural Municipality of Ritchot (french: Municipalité rurale de Ritchot) is a rural municipality in the Winnipeg Capital Region, bordering the south side of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. The separately-administered town of Niverville lies adja ...

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 ...

, located along the Red River. Ste. Agathe is in the provincial riding of

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia *St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Manitob ...

and the federal riding of

Provencher Provencher is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1871. It is a largely rural district in the province's southeast corner. Its largest community is the city of St ...

History

The village was founded in the mid-19th century on one of the

Red River Trails The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony (the "Selkirk Settlement") and Fort Garry in British North America with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States. These trade route ...

by settlers from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

named Grouette, who built a homestead on the west bank of the Red River and farmed grain in the rich soil of the valley. A dock allowed other settlers to reach the east side of the river via ferry with their grain-laden

Red River cart The Red River cart is a large two-wheeled cart made entirely of non-metallic materials. Often drawn by oxen, though also by horses or mules, these carts were used throughout most of the 19th century in the fur trade and in westward expansion in Ca ...

s; a community, originally called Pointe-à-Grouette, formed around the docking point at some time before 1871. The first mention of the name "Ste. Agathe" was some decades earlier, when the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

organized the Red River colonies between

St. Norbert Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1075 – 6 June 1134) (Xanten-Magdeburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint. Norbert was can ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

border into the Parish of Sainte-Agathe. As that

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

grew and split into numerous more manageable parishes, the parish containing Pointe-à-Grouette was renamed the ''Parish of Sainte-Agathe'' by Archbishop

Alexandre-Antonin Taché Alexandre-Antonin Taché, O.M.I., (23 July 1823 – 22 June 1894) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest, missionary of the Oblate order, author, and the first Archbishop of Saint Boniface in Manitoba, Canada. Early life Alexandre-Antonin ...

in 1873; the town adopted the name at some time after that date. A church, a school, and eventually a convent were built at the townsite.

1997 flood

It is located in the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the Red River and, as such, has always been prone to flood damage, but none was so severe or as notable as that experienced during the

1997 Red River flood The Red River flood of 1997 was a major flood that occurred in April and May 1997 along the Red River of the North in Minnesota, North Dakota, and southern Manitoba. It was the most severe flood of the river since 1826. The flood reached through ...

. The

ring dike A ring dike or ring dyke is an intrusive igneous body that is circular, oval or arcuate in plan and has steep contacts. While the widths of ring dikes differ, they can be up to several thousand meters. The most commonly accepted method of ring dik ...

surrounding the town gave out in late April, causing the town to be inundated with over two metres of water. The village has recovered; a new dike has been built and an

interpretive centre An interpretation centre, interpretive centre, or visitor interpretive centre is an institution for dissemination of knowledge of natural or cultural heritage. Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style museum, often associated with visitor c ...

has been created on the west side of the community.Red River Valley Floods Interpretive Centre
. Accessed August 12, 2008.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population 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 ...

, Ste. Agathe had a population of 643 living in 225 of its 226 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 637. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

External links

Ste Agathe official community website
{{MBDivision2 Sainte Agathe Unincorporated communities in Eastman Region, Manitoba Manitoba communities with majority francophone populations