Landmark is a hamlet in the province of Manitoba, Canada, located about 30 km southeast of the provincial capital, Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Taché. It has a population of approximately 1500 people (as of 2010). Landmark serves largely as a dormitory community or exurb for people who work in Winnipeg but prefer to reside in a small-town environment.
The Landmark businesses have, through the years, highlighted that the town lies on the longitudinal centre of Canada.
The town lies in an area with rich black soil known to yield fine crops. Situated in a low-lying area, the town relies on drainage provided by the constructed Seine River Diversion to minimize flooding caused by the spring melt.
Although at least four homesteads were established in about 1907, much of the area was barren until just after World War I. It was at this time that a number of families living in neighboring areas faced shortages of land for agricultural expansion. By 1920, a dozen Mennonite families had purchased land in the area and had begun establishing their new farms. Within a year of that, the area had its first church building, and by 1925 a school district had been organized.
The main transportation link in the Landmark area in the early years was the Old Dawson Trail, a crude road that led westward to Winnipeg and eastward to the small town of Ste. Anne.
In about 1920, the east part of the area of Prairie Rose was registered as the name "Landmark", being picked at random from a list of names in the "Farmer's Advocate" by early resident Peter M. Penner and his eldest son.
Numerous businesses sprung up in Landmark in the 1950s. One of the first businesses in the Landmark area, a repair shop named Landmark Motors, opened in 1950, followed the next year by the Landmark General Store. Landmark’s largest business, a livestock and poultry feed supplier called Landmark Feeds Inc, was established in 1954. In 1957, a plumbing and heating business opened, followed a year later by a second repair shop, Lincoln Sales & Service (now Giesbrecht Mechanical).
Persons of Mennonite descent continue to form the largest identifiable group in Landmark, although immigration to the area has altered the demographic in recent years.
While Landmark is predominantly a farming community, with many dairy, hog, poultry, and grain farming operations, the town offers a number of services. These include a livestock and poultry feed supplier, a swine management company with a truck and trailer wash, a credit union, a post office, insurance company, fire hall, youth centre, an arena, a new Kinsmen rec centre, and baseball diamond, two repair garages, one restaurant, a convenience store and gas station, as well as two schools (K-6) and (7-12), and four churches.
Loewen, Royden, Blumenort: A Mennonite Community in Transition, The Blumenort Mennonite Historical Society, 1983, pp 469-471.
Reflections on our heritage, Derksen Printers Ltd., Steinbach, Manitoba, 1971, pp 343-349.
100 Years In Our Community: A Centennial Project of the Landmark 4-H Home Ec. Club, 1970.
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