This town is beside the Indian Reservation for the Cree, who settled there after signing
Treaty Six with the Canadian government. The town is also home to the Maskwachees
Cultural College which is the only degree-granting institution spcializing in teaching
native cultural values. The town was immortalized by W.P. Kinsella in his book
Dance Me Outside: More Tales from the Ermineskin Reserve (he also wrote
the screenplay for Academy Award winning "Field of Dreams").
The town was named in 1891 by the Canadian Pacific Railway after the Dutch landscape painter Meyndert Hobbema, who lived 1638-1709, whose works were collected by CPR President William Van Horne.
