The Site
A view of the Old Village ca. 1920. Photograph courtesy of Saskatchewan Archives Board
The Old Village of Stanley Mission was founded in 1852 when Rev. Robert Hunt of the Church Missionary Society selected a promontory on the north shore of the English (Churchill) River as the location for a permanent mission to Cree families in the area. He hired the Hudson's Bay Company carpenter and a couple of Cree men to build his home and a school. While working on his home, the men also built homes for their own families. In 1854, construction began on Holy Trinity Church. This amazing wood-frame neo-Gothic structure wasn’t finished until 1860.
Rev. Mackay, who was pastor from 1864 to 1877, made a notable impact in the Cree community. He built a new parsonage and school; he expanded agriculture (yes, they grew wheat and barley), built a grist mill to produce flour, and translated parts of the Bible into Cree syllabics.
By the early 1900s, the village consisted of about 20 Cree homes, the Revillon Freres Company store complex, and the parsonage complex (including a school). The Hudson’s Bay Company and several other homes were situated on the south shore of the Churchill.
In 1920, the Federal government designated land on the south shore of the Churchill River as reserve land and surveyed the existing village and the boundaries of the new reserve. Once the reserve was established, the Government began to encourage the Cree to move there. By the 1950s, most of the families were living across the river, and by the early 1970s the village was abandoned.
Holy Trinity Church still stands, a prominent landmark on the Churchill River. The Old Village is less obvious, marked by numerous house depressions and old gardens all well concealed by tall grass and trees. It is not forgotten, though. Several Elders who lived in the village are still alive. Their memories, along with numerous archival documents and photographs, have been essential in reconstructing the history of the village.
Further Reading:
· Harold S.M. Kemp, 1956, Northern Trader. The Ryerson Press, Toronto.
Harold Kemp was the Revillon Freres store manager at Stanley Mission from 1922 to 1927.
· Sydney Augustus Keighley, 1988, Trader, Tripper, Trapper: The Life of a Bay Man. Watson & Dwyer, Winnipeg.
Sid Keighley was at Stanley Mission twice, as the HBC store manager from 1921 to 1927 and as an independent trader from 1938 to 1940.
· Saskatchewan Culture and Youth, 1982, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Stanley Mission. Regina.
A brief history of the church, the village, and the missionaries and priests who served there.