Old Colony Mennonite Cemetery (Vauxhall, MD of Taber)

Nestled amidst the sweeping Southern Alberta prairies, the Old Colony Mennonite Cemetery marks a quiet yet poignant chapter in the history of Vauxhall and its Mennonite settlers.

The cemetery’s origins stem from the arrival of Old Colony Mennonites, a conservative branch of the Russian Mennonite movement, descended from the Chortitza (Old Colony) settlement in Ukraine. Drawn by the Canadian government’s block-settlement policy, designed to allow ethnically similar settlers to cluster together, many Mennonite families began arriving in the Vauxhall area in the early 1930s, drawn by the promise of irrigated farmland and close-knit community life.

The Old Colony Mennonite Cemetery remains a smaller, quieter burial site. It stands as a testament to the Old Colony community’s legacy, their resilience, and the lives they lived on the Alberta plains.

The Vauxhall‑Grantham Mennonite Church continued its ministry into the late 20th century. In 1963 it amalgamated with Hays Mennonite Mission and simplified its name to Vauxhall Mennonite Church; membership fluctuated, in the mid‑20th century and dwindling to the mid‑30s by the 1980s and ‘90s. By the year 2000, the congregation disbanded, and its members integrated into other Mennonite communities.

Though the congregation itself is no more, the Old Colony Mennonite Cemetery endures as a deeply meaningful landmark. It captures the story of 20th-century Mennonite resilience, their devotion to faith and community, and their adaptation to the Canadian West. Amidst the sun-baked fields and wide skies of Southern Alberta, the cemetery offers a tranquil, reverent remembrance of those whose lives helped shape Vauxhall and the broader Municipal District of Taber.