Urban centres, with their collΦges, newspapers, and various businesses were not the only focus of francophone settlement. At a time when Canada was still primarily a rural society, francophones, like all other groups, were found mostly in the rural areas. The parish of Ste. Anne des ChΩnes, located on the Seine River 35 miles east of St. Boniface, had grown out of a small MΘtis settlement astride the Dawson Road. Repatriated French-Canadians who had settled in the area in the 1870s founded other parishes, among them the dairy centre of La Broquerie.
This photograph shows the second church built in Ste. Anne by the Rev. Giroux which was torn down in 1898. The buttresses required to support the sagging walls reveal the difficulties inherent in large frame buildings. Often, monies for the construction of a new church were scarce, owing to poor crops or low prices for farm products. When church contributions were assured, a new church would be built of brick if possible.
Courtesy: La SociΘtΘ historique de Saint-Boniface.
