Schanzenfeld is a small hanlet community in the

Rural Municipality of Stanley Stanley is a rural municipality (RM) in the province of Manitoba in Western Canada. It is located in the southern part of the province, along its border with the state of North Dakota in the United States. Since 1876, the area made up part of the ...

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 about 2 miles south of the City of Winkler. Largely a

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

community. The village was named after

Jacob Yost Shantz Jacob Yost Shantz (2May 182228October 1909) was a Mennonite farmer, businessman, and industrialist from Ontario, Canada. He played a significant role in the urban development of Berlin, Ontario ( which is now the city of Kitchener), where he held ...

, a businessman from Ontario who helped Plautdietsch-speaking

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

migrate from

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

southern Manitoba Southern Manitoba is the southernmost area of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Southern Manitoba encompasses the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region, Westman Region, Central Plains Region, Eastman Region, and Pembina Valley Region, as well as the Manito ...

. He visited areas of southern Manitoba in 1872 to explore possibilities for Mennonite settlement. The community is first noted on a ''Department of the Interior'' map in 1881. It opened a post office ion 21-2-4W in 1884 but it was soon moved to Winkler on 4-3-4W. The community was on 16-2-4W and 21-2-4W while the school district was located at SW22-2-4W.

Economy

Schanzenfed has a very diversified economy. The main occupation of its residents is truck drivers and school bus drivers. The local economy consists of two meat shops (Banman Meats and Southern Meats).

References

''R.M. of Stanley''
* ''Geographic Names of Manitoba'' (pg. 243) - the Millennium Bureau of Canada * the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'' - Jacob Yost Shantz Mennonitism in Manitoba Russian Mennonite diaspora in Manitoba Unincorporated communities in Pembina Valley Region {{Manitoba-geo-stub Pembina Valley Region