As was typically the case elsewhere along the Red River Valley, the area around St. Jean Baptiste was settled in the early 1870s by M\u00e9tis families from St. Norbert.\u00a0 At that time, it was called \u201cMission Rivi\u00e8re aux Prunes\u201d because of the abundance of wild plums growing along the river banks.\u00a0\u00a0 When they were joined by twenty families from Quebec and the Eastern U.S., Bishop Tach\u00e9 decided to establish a new parish, naming it St. Jean Baptiste in honour of the patron saint of French-Canadians.<\/p>\n
The land around St. Jean Baptiste is among the most fertile in the Red River Valley. A variety of seeds and specialty crops (including soup peas) are farmed in the region,.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Montcalm Theatre\u00a0<\/strong>has been very active in the community for the past twenty years. Each year in March, the company presents a play that draws local audiences as well as those from Winnipeg and beyond.<\/p>\n St. Jean Baptiste is also home to the province\u2019s oldest remaining rural convent, the former convent of the\u00a0Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary<\/strong>, established in 1897-1898.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2928,"parent":0,"template":"","regions":[48],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonjourmanitoba.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions\/4591"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonjourmanitoba.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonjourmanitoba.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/regions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonjourmanitoba.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonjourmanitoba.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonjourmanitoba.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=4591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}