Boian, Alberta

Boian
Unincorporated community
Boian
Coordinates: 53°49′59″N 112°00′30″W / 53.83306°N 112.00833°W / 53.83306; -112.00833
Country  Canada
Province  Alberta
Region Central Alberta
Census Division 10
Municipal district County of Two Hills No. 21
Founded 19th century
Highways 45
857

Boian, is an unincorporated community in Alberta, Canada.[1] It is located in the floodplain of the North Saskatchewan River, 6 km east of Willingdon, in County of Two Hills No. 21. It is the oldest Romanian settlement in Canada.[2]

History

The community was named for Boian, the Romanian village in Bukovina, from where the settlers originated.[3] In the fall of 1903, the community built a Romanian Orthodox Church, named by locals like the one in their homeland, St Mary Orthodox Church. It was completed in the summer of 1905. By the year 1909, the need of a localschool became more accentuated, and a small building was constructed in 1910, and later a three room school was built from stone and was the largest rural school in Alberta.

The Romanians of Boian , did not have enough farm land to further homestead, so many of the first generation went on to form new Romanian communities in Pierceland, Saskatchewan and Manning, Alberta.

Today, the former Boian Mare school is the Boian Community center and has a small museum showcasing Romanian immigration in Alberta, photos of the first Romanian settlers in the area and the typical Romanian farmer's life in rural Canada. As well, the house of the local family Yurko has been moved to the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village where it portrays the similarities and differences between Ukrainian Canadian and Romanian Canadian culture. In 1892 the , Romanian PIoneer Museum of Boian, Alberta was opened. It features a restored pioneer house, built in Bucovinian peasant style as were about 100 such houses built by the Romanian pioneers to the area. This modern museum features the life of the Romanian pioneer from 1898 til 1935 in Alberta. see, www.boianalbertamuseum.com.

Notes

  1. ↑ "Boian". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
  2. ↑ “Campul romanesc” din Hamilton-Canada, 8 February 2003, Valentin Hossu-Longin, Curierul Naţional
  3. ↑ Place-names of Alberta. Ottawa: Geographic Board of Canada. 1928. p. 22.

Coordinates: 53°49′59″N 112°00′30″W / 53.83306°N 112.00833°W / 53.83306; -112.00833

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