Springfield is a

rural municipality A rural municipality is a classification of municipality, a type of local government, found in several countries. These include: * Rural municipalities in Canada, a type of municipal status in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, ...

(RM) in Manitoba, Canada. It stretches from urban industrial development on the eastern boundary of the City of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, through urban, rural residential, agricultural and natural landscapes, to the

Agassiz Provincial Forest Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...

on the municipality's eastern boundary.

Birds Hill Provincial Park Birds Hill Provincial Park is a provincial park in Manitoba, Canada located in the Boreal Plains ecozone. The park protects areas representative of Aspen/ Oak parkland, as well as provides opportunities for recreation. It is located 24 kilometer ...

nestles into the north-western corner of Springfield. Springfield's population was 16,142 as of the 2021 census, making it the second most populous RM in the province (slightly behind the RM of Hanover) and fifth most populous municipality overall (behind the cities of Winnipeg,

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 ...

, and Steinbach, and RM of Hanover).

History

The Springfield area is part of the traditional territory of

Anishnaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, ...

and

Swampy Cree The Swampy Cree people, also known by their autonyms ''Néhinaw'', ''Maskiki Wi Iniwak'', ''Mushkekowuk,'' ''Maškékowak'' or ''Maskekon'' (and therefore also ''Muskegon'' and ''Muskegoes'') or by exonyms including ''West Main Cree,'' ''Lowlan ...

First Nations. In 1870, the area became part of the new province of Manitoba. In 1871, the area was covered under

Treaty 1 ''Treaty 1'' (also known as the "Stone Fort Treaty") is an agreement established on August 3, 1871, between the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland and the Anishinabe and Swampy Cree nations. The first of a series of treaties called the ...

between the British Crown and the First Nations. The treaty facilitated the settlement of southern Manitoba including agricultural settlements in the Springfield area. Springfield was incorporated in 1880 as a result of changes made to the Rural Municipality of Springfield and Sunnyside (1873–1880). The municipality received its name due to the presence of multiple

natural springs A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...

found within its borders. While farming is still important in the municipality, today many residents are employed in nearby Winnipeg.

Communities

Anola Anola is an unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It is located east of Winnipeg and north of Steinbach in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. The community has a population of approximately 200 people. History Th ...

* Cooks Creek * Dugald *

Glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

* Hazelridge * Oakbank * Ostenfeld * Pine Ridge * Sapton * Vivian

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 ...

, Springfield had a population of 16,142 living in 5,795 of its 5,992 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 15,342. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Attractions

The RM of Springfield contains many sites of historical and cultural significance such as the Sunnyside cemetery, the Springfield Hutterite colony, North Springfield school, Springfield Agricultural Society, and the Dugald rail accident site. In 1996, the Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cooks Creek 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 on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

Government

Municipal

Springfield's administrative center is in Oakbank, the largest community in the RM. The RM is governed by a mayor and councillors representing the RM's five wards. The government has come under some scrutiny for having the highest compensation to mayor and council ($242,974 total for 2015) relative to all other municipalities in the Winnipeg capital region.

Provincial

The RM is represented by two ridings in the

Manitoba Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gene ...

: Springfield-Ritchot (west) and Dawson Trail (east). The former Springfield electoral district included all of the RM and parts of adjacent

East St. Paul East St. Paul is a List of rural municipalities in Manitoba, rural municipality (RM) in Manitoba, Canada. It is located north-east of and adjacent to the city of Winnipeg, and is part of the Winnipeg Metropolitan Area. The municipality was forme ...

Federal

The RM is split between two federal ridings:

Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman (formerly Selkirk—Interlake) is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1976 to 1987, and since 1997. The ri ...

(north) and

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 ...

(south). From 1914 through 1966, a federal riding was also called "Springfield" with varying boundaries not always coterminous with the municipality.

References

External links

R.M. of Springfield
(official site)
Community Profile: Springfield Rural Municipality, Manitoba; Statistics Canada

Map of Springfield R.M. at Statcan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Springfield, Rural Municipality of Rural municipalities in Manitoba Winnipeg Metro Region