Manitoba Communities: Wawanesa (Unincorporated Village)

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Population | Mayors / Reeves | Memorable Manitobans | Historic Sites | History Books | Maps | Contact Information | Sources

Known originally as Sipewiski, an Indigenous word meaning “crooked river,” it was changed to Wawanesa because early settlers thought it sounded like “sip of whiskey.” The word Wawanesa is an Indigenous word but there are several versions of what it is thought to mean.

Present Status

Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa (1 January 2015)

Incorporation History

Village of Wawanesa (4 December 1908)
Amalgamation of Oakland and Wawanesa (1 January 2015)

Adjoining Municipalities

Oakland

Land Area (square km)

2.26

Population

Year

Total

1911

375

1916

343

1921

368

1926

374

1931

441

1936

427

1941

404

1946

423

1951

447

1956

440

1961

456

1966

512

1971

478

1976

487

1981

492

1986

502

1991

482

1996

485

2001

516

2006

535

2011

562

Mayors

Term

Mayor

1909

Charles D. Kerr

1910-1912

Pierce Couling (1877-1947)

1913

Thomas Stevenson

1914-1924

William S. Peters (1865-1952)

1925-1930

Charles Clinton Gorrie (1885-1968)

1931-1951

Charles Lorraine Atkinson (1876-?)

1952-1967

Charles Clinton Gorrie (1885-1968)

1968-1971

Herbert Wesley Lawrence (1913-2010)

1972-1983

G. Hugh Wilton

1984-2005

Dean R. Boyd

2006-2014

Bruce Gullett

2015

See Oakland-Wawanesa

Memorable Manitobans

Search the MHS collection of biographies for ones connected to Wawanesa:

Custom Search

Historic Sites

Go here for a list of historic sites in Wawanesa.

History Books

Go here for a list of history books for Wawanesa.

Maps

Sources

Geographic Names of Manitoba, Manitoba Conservation, 2000.

Manitoba Gazette, 1887-1959. Manitoba Legislative Library.

Sipiweske, Light Through the Trees: 100 Years of Wawanesa and District, Wawanesa & District History Book Committee, 1988.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 14 May 2017