Fonds ORG - Silberfeld Community Fonds

When in the fall of 1878 the first Mennonite settlers came to the tall grass and flat prairie land, there was nothing but creeks with small wolf willow shrubbery around the beds that had a silvery sheen in the sunlight. This is likely where the name Silberfeld came from as it translates to “Silver Field” in English. Just prior to the settlers coming, the government had claimed the land to be settled but because there were no trees to be felled to build houses and other buildings, land was bought by Isaak Miller along the Pembina River in North Dakota so that the settlers could get their own lumber for building. In 1881, 15 homestead applications had been made by the residents of Silberfeld and by 1921 that number had gone up to 21. The school in Silberfeld was under the jurisdiction of the Church and as such it was a private school teaching reading and writing in the German language. The school operated like this from 1884 until 1919. In 1919 a public school building was built because of an amalgamation stemming from the Provincial School Act. The new public school served both the Silberfeld and Schoenhorst communities.
The people of Silberfeld lived as farmers and settlers of the land as they continue to today, many of the original families still living on their homesteads that have been passed down generation to generation.