The feature story for this issue of Preservings is the Chortitzer Gemeinde, or Chortitzer Church, as it is now known, in honour of the 100th anniversary of the worship house at Chortitz, Manitoba (Randolph).

In 1874-76 500 families from the Bergthaler Colony from Russia emigrated to Canada en masse settling in the Hanover Steinbach area, then known as the East Reserve. From 1878-81 about half of these settlers relocated to the Altona area (West Reserve) where they came to be known as the Sommerfelder. The Bergthaler that remained in the East Reserve were known as Chortitzer, after the village of Chortitz, home of its Bishop or Aeltester and one of its central worship houses.