Virden

Virden is a town of 3,300 people (2016) in the Prairie Mountain region of Manitoba.

Understand
Known as the "Oil Capital of Manitoba", Virden has its roots as a farming community known as Gopher Creek. However, it became a railway tent town in 1882, and grew in population due to the brick and flour industry, as well as with the discovery of oil in the 1950s. The origin of the name, Virden, allegedly arose as a misspelling of the German town Verden in the homeland of the 7th Duke of Manchester's wife.



By car
Virden is at the junction of the Provincial Trunk Highway 1 (Trans-Canada Highway) and Provincial Trunk Highway 83. On Provincial Trunk Highway 1, it is halfway between Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg. Provincial Trunk Highway 1 is known in renamed in Saskatchewan as Highway 1.