Manitou is a small town in southwestern Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Pembina

Pembina, Manitoba

Pembina is a rural municipality in the province of Manitoba in Western Canada. It is located in the southern part of the province, along the border with the state of North Dakota in the United States. It had a population of 1,712 persons as of the 2006 Census, a decline from 1,769 persons reported...

. The Boundary Trail Railway

Boundary Trail Railway

The Boundary Trail Railway Company is a Canadian short line railway company operating in southern Manitoba. In 2009 the railway purchased 23 miles of operational railway linking Morden, Manitoba to the Binney Siding as well as 55 miles of abandoned railway from Binney Siding to the Pembina...

 is based out of Manitou.

Notable residents

It is perhaps best known for having once been the home of the social activist Nellie McClung

Nellie McClung

Nellie McClung, born Nellie Letitia Mooney , was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements prevalent in Western Canada in the early 1900s...

. Another interesting person from the town's history is Robert Ironside

Robert Ironside (businessman)

Robert Ironside, was a Canadian from Upper Canada whose parents had immigrated from Scotland. His pursuitss, beyond businessman, involved cattle breeding and politics....

, who, along with James Thomas Gordon, owned and operated businesses in the town starting in the 1880s.

Demographics

It had a population of 775 at the time of the 2001 census. Manitou has a weekly newspaper, the Western Canadian. The town's motto is "More Than A Small Town". Manitou is surrounded by Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 communities and is right next to the largest wind farm project in Canada. The town is shaped like a right-angle triangle with highway 3

Manitoba Provincial Highway 3

Provincial Trunk Highway 3 is a provincial highway in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It runs from the Saskatchewan boundary to the west limit of the city of Winnipeg...

 forming the base, highway 244 forming the vertical part, and Front Avenue forming the diagonal part.

Manitou Opera House

In 2007, Winnipeg folk musician Christine Fellows

Christine Fellows

Christine Fellows is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba.-History:Born in Windsor, Ontario and raised in France and Kelowna, British Columbia, Fellows lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and Montreal before settling in Winnipeg in 1992.In 1993, she formed her first group,...

 recorded parts of her album Nevertheless in the Manitou Opera House, a local heritage landmark known for its unique acoustics.

External links

• Town of Manitou Community Profile
• http://www.townofmanitou.ca/
• Map of Manitou at Statcan