Mennonite Street Village National Historic Site Mennonite Street Villages are Prairie settlement forms of both national historic and architectural significance. The Mennonite street villages of southern Manitoba are the best preserved examples of traditional street village settlement patterns in Western Canada. They are also probably the region's oldest nucleated communities of any type that still survive in their original forms. Along with the Icelandic settlers of Manitoba's Interlake, the Mennonites were one of the first two groups to establish ethnic block settlements on the prairies. The Waterloo Pioneer Monument The Waterloo Pioneer Monument is located near Preston, Ontario and has a plaque mounted on it which reads: "In the year 1800 a small number of Mennonite families arrived from Pennsylvania to settle Block 2, former Six Nations land along the Grand River. Others, mainly Mennonites, followed during the next three years until problems regarding ownership of the land curtailed the migration. Representatives were sent back to Pennsylvania to raise the money necessary to secure clear title to the land, with the result that a joint stock company was formed and 60,000 acres purchased. Pennsylvania 'Dutch' settlers quickly took up this land, creating the first sizeable inland settlement in Upper Canada." Top of page.