The Village of Crystal City is located on Provincial Trunk Highway 3, and is 150 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba. Crystal City is also located 16 kilometres north of the USA border. Agriculture is the economic base in the community with many local services and businesses serving the farming industry.
Crystal City is 45 minutes west from Morden and Winkler; a fast growing industrial area. We are 16 kilometres southeast of Rock Lake, which provides for excellent year-round activities including camping, water sports and play, and summer and winter fishing.
History
Crystal City was established in 1879; the village became part of the newly formed provincial constituency of Mountain. Thomas Greenway became the first member by acclamation. Thomas Greenway became the seventh Premier of Manitoba, while representing the Liberal Party from 1888 to 1900. In 1879 Greenway and others came from the Exeter area of Ontario to homestead land adjacent to and south of the present site of the village of Crystal City, and also which the Boundary Commission Trail forded Crystal Creek.
Thomas Greenway, the founder of Crystal City, was also the founder of the Crystal City Print Shop and the publisher of the Rock Lake Herald newspaper. His property within the village is now the location of the Rock Lake Hospital. A short hike north of the hospital is the Greenway Family Cemetery. The area surrounding Crystal City was envisioned for farming and has proved well in that department.
The Village of Crystal City was incorporated in January 1, 1948. In 1998, Crystal City celebrated its 50th year of incorporation with festivities organized around the annual fair held in July. Many old-timers, families and friends came to celebrate this occasion.
Economic Base
Crystal City provides shops, stores and services to accommodate a highly agricultural-based economy. Thus, you will find a farm machinery dealership, welding and repair shops, a hardware store, as well as two bulk fuel stations, two garages, and an auto-body repair shop in the village. Other services include two grocery stores, a pharmacy, one financial institution, a law and insurance office, a flower and gift shop, a custom framing shop, a custom sign shop, two hairdressers and a restaurant. We also have Phi-Ber Manufacturing that manufactures haying equipment. We have a local hospital, a K - 4 Elementary School and a Middle years school 5 - 8. The High school (9 to 12) is located in our neighbouring community of Pilot Mound which is located 7 kilometres north of us.
Major Attractions
The annual Crystal City-Clearwater Agricultural Fair is held the first weekend in July. We have a motor-cross track, as well as a swimming reservoir. Crystal City has the largest collection of working printing equipment from the 1900's in Western Canada. The Crystal City Printing Museum operates on a full-time basis and has been designated as a Provincial Heritage Site. Crystal City has also taken part in hosting the Gathering of Nations. We have annual Senior and Junior Baseball tournaments also.
Facilities - Recreation, Parks, Culture
There are three parks which visitors and residents can take advantage of when they are in Crystal City. The Cenotaph Park is kept in memory of those who died in their service to Canada. We have a campground park with eight serviced sites, as well as, washrooms and playground facilities. Our Centennial Park was formed in our Canada Centennial year of 1967 and has benches and playground facilities. We have a skating arena, as well as a curling arena, and both have artificial ice. We also have a community hall run by the local Lions Club. Parklane Theatre has a committee that works together to sponsor plays and many cultural events. In our surrounding area we have a golf course, a tennis court, a bowling alley, and an outdoor swimming pool.
