St. François Xavier, Manitoba


St. François Xavier is an unincorporated urban centre located in southern Manitoba, Canada. It is located about 15 km west of the city of Winnipeg on the Assiniboine River.

History

St. François Xavier had various names including White Horse Plains and Grantown after its founder Cuthbert Grant. Cuthbert Grant arrived in 1824 and was soon joined by many Métis families. He had led the Métis in the Battle of Seven Oaks.
The St François Xavier area was home to several different First Nation tribes like the Cree and the Dakota due to the lands in the area that provided for a rich harvest of buffalo and a number of other animals. The Métis had a noticeable role in the municipality and throughout the province.
In 1851, Father Louis-François Richer Laflèche accompanied the Métis buffalo hunters from the parish of St. François Xavier on one of their annual hunts on the prairies. The hunting group, led by Jean Baptiste Falcon, son of Pierre Falcon, was made up of 67 men, a number of women who came to prepare the meat, some small children and 200 carts. In North Dakota they encountered a band of Sioux. Laflèche dressed only in a black cassock, white surplice, and stole, directed with the camp commander Jean Baptiste Falcon a miraculous defence against 2,000 Sioux combatants, using a crucifix at the Battle of Grand Coteau. After a siege of two days, the Sioux withdrew, convinced that the Great Spirit protected the Métis.
The St. François-Xavier post office was opened in 1871 and closed in 1975.

Demographics

St. François Xavier is classified as an unincorporated urban centre and is a designated place in the Canada Census. In 2011, it had a population of 1,240 which was down 8.5% from 2006. The land area was 3.37 km2. As of the 2016 Census, the population was 1,411.

Notable people buried at the St. Francois Xavier Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery