Posted: Mar 14, 2021 4:00 AM CT | Last Updated: March 15
Some Saskatchewan people were inspired to make positive life changes when the global pandemic hit. (Submitted by (clockwise from top left) Jess Gibson, Leah Knibbs, Life Outside and Maddie Ouellette)
Life Outdoors: The Russian immigration experience
David Mark
Russians came to Maynard to work at the mill. They were part of an exodus of millions of people leaving the Russian Empire in search of a better life. St. Mary’s Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church the heart of the community with its onion-domed topped roof, is on Prospect Street. It was dedicated in 1917.
The appearance of Russian immigrants in Maynard was representative of a grand exodus. Prior to 1880 the immigration rate to the United States was modest, ramping up during the next decade to more than 10,000 per year, and then the flood: more than 3 million between 1890 and the beginning of World War I. The catalysts for this mass emigration from the Russian Empire included the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, followed by a repressive government under Tsar Alexander III, combined with famine, deep poverty, anti-Jewish pogroms and political unrest. The Russian experience was part of a larger move from imp