Bienfait is a town in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

on Highway 18 that is east of

Estevan Estevan is the eleventh-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History The ...

. It is surrounded by the RM of Coalfields. For services, Bienfait has one K-8 school, a gas station, a curling rink and an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

, which is where the Bienfait Coalers of the Big 6 Hockey League play. The Coalers have won the Lincoln Trophy 15 times, which is the most of any team. The Bienfait Museum is in the old CPR Station on the east end of town. The original location for the station was on the CPR line on the north side of town.

History

Bienfait was incorporated as the Village of Bienfait on April 16, 1912. It became a town on March 1, 1957, and was named by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

after Antoine Charles Bienfait, a banker with Adolphe Boissevain & Company of

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

since the firm had been involved in the sale of Canadian Pacific shares in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 1931, striking coal miners marched from Bienfait to nearby Estevan, which resulted in the Estevan Riot.

Train / Caboose Lot

On the north side of town on Railway Avenue at the head of Main Street, sits a Manitoba & Saskatchewan Coal Company (M&S) Locomotive #3522, which is on the

Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; , ), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic places in Canada which have been formally recognized for their heritage value by a federal, provincial, territorial ...

. The M & S Locomotive was built in 1907 and used to transport coal from the mines to Bienfait to market until 1968. It was one of the last commercially-functioning steam engines in Canada. The town of Bienfait acquired the locomotive in 1968 and the caboose in 2000. The caboose is an old

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

caboose. This site was added to the list of historic places in Saskatchewan on March 28, 2002.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Bienfait had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Gallery

File:M&S Locomotive.jpg, M&S Locomotive in Bienfait File:Main Street Bienfait looking north.png, Main Street Bienfait, looking north with the locomotive at the end of the road File:M&S Locomotive plaque.jpg, M&S Locomotive plaque File:Bienfait Memorial Arena.jpg, Bienfait Memorial Arena

Notable people

* Andy Shauf — Singer-songwriter and guitarist

References