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Manitoba’s first Jewish farm colony began here in 1903. Called Bender Hamlet after its founder, Jacob Bender, the colony consisted of 19 families living close together in a row of log houses. These settlers from the Nickolaiev region of the Ukraine, built a synagogue and carried on their lives according to Orthodox Judaism. They had little farming experience, no equipment, and little outside help. Falling grain and cattle prices in the1920s and poor soil forced the settlers to leave for larger urban centers. By 1927, the colony was abandoned and the land sold for taxes as one by one the families had left for the larger urban centers.
