Pioneer Days are here and with it, perhaps thoughts of the early settlers and how Steinbach came to be the thriving city it is today.

There are 40 Heritage locations in Steinbach that have been mapped out by the Steinbach Heritage Committee and can be followed at your leisure as a self guided tour. The map and descriptions of each of the locations can be found on the city of Steinbach website. http://www.steinbach.ca/steinbach_life/heritage_parks/#WalkingTourHeritage. Each of the sites has a plaque marking it as a Heritage location.

Steinbach's Heritage Walkway follows the Stoney Brook where the founding families made their homes. The Walkway was named on September 5, 2000 and stretches along Elmdale Street from Highway 12 to Hespeler Street.

Committee Chair Elbert Toews tells us in the early days, Steinbach was an agricultural community relying on the horse and buggy. “Horses pulled a sleigh upon which a car was taken from Giroux where the railway was, and driven to Steinbach. So it was the horse and buggy age that ushered in the automobile city way back in 1914.”

“You'll find very few places that have no railway and don't have a significant water way that have become significant centres,” says Toews. “It boils down to the entrepeneurs, a few people for whatever reason caused people to focus on this area and come here to buy.

Here a just a few of the heritage locations in Steinbach on the walking tour: