Niverville has a new park, and it’s a historically significant one. The Station Lands Heritage Park was officially opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, July 18, on Station Road.

Mayor Myron Dyck was on hand for the event alongside former town employee Cornelius Funk and local history enthusiasts Bernie Falk and Ernest Braun.

The park, marked by a handsome timber shelter covering a refurbished historical well, can be reached via a walking trail from Main Street.

The well is the result of an accidental discovery made in 2012. At that time, Funk was cutting grass when one of the wheels of his mower unexpectedly fell into a hole.

“He could have gone right over if it wasn’t for the width of the mower preventing it,” says Braun of the lucky happenstance.

Eventually the hole was filled in, with the help of Bernie Falk, another former town employee.

In the meantime, Braun researched the significance of the hole and its proximity to the nearby railroad tracks. He concluded, through depth exploration, that this well had originally been used to provide water for steam engines.

Ten years after the discovery, in the fall of 2022, the town began construction on a park.

“If you didn’t have access to water, you would not see a community here,” says Mayor Dyck of the well’s significance. “To have water this close in proximity shows the infrastructure that was important to the day and the significance of it, and how it connected communities.”

The park was developed in collaboration with the Eastman Historical Society, as well as a team of students from the Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s carpentry class that designed and rebuilt the well and timber shelter.

Along the way, the park has been supported by numerous volunteers.

Reclaimed brick from both the well and other local sources were used to rebuild the well to its current height. Natural grasses, trees, and shrubs were then planted nearby.

Partial funding of $75,000 was provided by the provincial government through the Building Sustainable Communities fund. Niverville’s town council matched the province’s contribution, bringing the project’s cost to $150,000. 

Stations Land Heritage Park is part of more than 160 acres of usable public greenspace in Niverville. The town also boasts twenty-four kilometres of active transportation routes.