Hutterite Colonies in Manitoba

Samuel Hofer, The Hutterites: Lives and Images of a Communal People, provides a brief description of Hutterite colonies. "When traveling in rural areas of the Canadian Prairies and the American states of Montana, Washington, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, you will occasionally come upon small distinctive communities appearing as clusters of long buildings. These unique communities are often a short distance from a main highway or road, and usually no public roads pass through them. They aren't villages in the typical sense. Unlike Indian reserves where family houses are scattered, some separated by a few acres, these ordered communities are made up of several long unit-houses, a school and church, a large communal kitchen at the heart of the huf (community yard); laundry, abattoir, electrical building, waterworks building; shops, garages, numerous long barns, grain storage facilities, and other buildings. The residential area is usually at the center of the community and the farm facilities are located on the peripheral." The red circled Hutterite colony is examined in the topographic assignment.

New Dale Hutterite Colony, Manitoba (see photo above) The Hutterite Brethern first emigrated to Canada in 1918, first to Manitoba, then westward to Saskatchewan and Alberta. In Alberta they purchased large tracts of land (usually from a number of individual farmers) and established colonies. Hutterites engage in mixed farming operations. They live a communal lifestyle, sharing all material rewards from their labor. Although they adhere to traditional religious values, they do keep pace with technological change. Hutterite colonies engage in some of the most sophisticated farming operations in the Canadian west. Source: D. Stone -- photo and above text. The black-and-white photo shows another Hutterite colony in Manitoba. The village pattern is essentially the same in all colonies: barns (chicken, in this case; cattle in other cases) are grouped on the outskirts; houses are clustered together -- near or around, in this case, a communal eating and meeting hall; large kitchen gardens, protected by shelter belts. Created by Ingolf Vogeler on 12 June 2000; last revised February 14, 2013.