Our Heritage  Special Places Project

Site Inventory / Page 3 / Elva & Area


Elva

In 1885, James R. Skelton is registered as homesteading NW 18-3-27. In 1891 he agreed to sell a said amount of land to the Canadian Pacific Railway for right of way. In 1891 an unincorporated village was started in the Municipality of Arthur. Mr. James Wesley Modeland was registered as home- stead NE 6-4-27 and as the first white child born to the Modelands was named Elva, this was the name chosen for the village.
In 1892 the Souris-Estevan railway line was completed and records show that Elva was first served by a portable station. In the early 1920's a station with living quarters was built and in 1924 a freight shed was added on the east end of the station.
In 1892, Mr. Archibald moved the Post Office from his nearby farm to the village of Elva.
In 1904 Elva had a population of 100 and by 1908 had risen to 150.




Area

 
 

 
 



 


Elva Village



 
 
Renwick House
Elva
153.C.1.
1905

Previously owned by Dave McCannell
Concrete block construction.



 

Lake of the Woods Elevator
Elva
153.D.1.
ca. 1895

Lake of the Woods Milling Co.
Merged with Ogilvie ca. 1950’s
Manitoba Pool purchased it in 1959
New foundation ca. 1950

Oldest standing elevator in Canada
 


 

U.G.G. Elevator
Elva
153.D.2.

Elva had four elevators in the early 1900’s.



 

Former Elva School
Elva
153. E.1
1965
GPS: N49.21649, W101.11817.

Elva School District was formally established in May 1892 and a school was erected northwest of Elva in the late 1890s. It was moved into Elva in 1898 and, four years later, replaced by a larger, two-storey frame building, located at N49.21649, W101.11817. A new elementary school was built in 1965. It closed in 1974 due to school consolidation. Its former location is marked by a monument.
 
 



Brockinton Site
36-1-29
153. F.1
400AD on
GPS: N49.20112, W101.03352

Bison Pound and First Nations Camps

This site is a late prehistoric site from the Blackduck phase. It has been occupied periodically over the past 1600 years. Archeological excavations have been done at the site. A nationally designated historic site,



Bison bones can still be found on the river bank.
 


 

Brockinton House
10-3-27
153. G.2
1895
GPS: N49.20112, W101.03352


 
Pioneer W.T. Brockinton built this compact stone house close to the Souris River.



 

Brockinton Barn
10-3-27
153.G.3
ca. 1915
GPS: N49.20112, W101.03352

Percy Brockinton had contractor Albert Bird build this large barn erected overlooking the4 Souris River.
 



 
Elva Area Shelterbelts
18-3-27
153. M.2
1930’s
GPS: 49* 7.109’N  101* 17.690’W

 

Many farms in the Elva region still retain shelterbelts like these, just south of the Village.

 
 
Village of Elva
153.M.1.
1891 – with the arrival of the CPR.



From the plaque:

 “An incorporated village was founded in  1891……The town was named after Elva Modeland, the first white child born in the area.”