Virden, Manitoba, Canada

Virden, Manitoba, population 4,000, is a town in the south western area of the province, about 75 km west of Brandon. Named for John Virden, a local innkeeper, it was established near the railway in 1882, and became a service centre for trade and agriculture. Affectionately known as the "Little Town of the West", it was the home of western Manitoba's first opera house. After oil was discovered in 1956, Virden became "the Oil Capital of Manitoba". The founder of Reader's Digest magazine, Lila Acheson Wallace was born in Virden in 1889.

Kindly written and contributed by Mrs M J Ujimoto © 2009