Esterhazy sits in the south-eastern part of Saskatchewan, 83 kilometres south-east of Yorkton. Its name is reputed to come from Count Paul Otto d'Esterhazy, an immigrant agent who was christened Johannes Packh. At 35 he claimed to be a Hungarian aristocrat of the Esterházy family, though the family never recognized the claim.
A year after making it, he came to Saskatchewan, settling south of where the town now stands. In 1886 he helped settle 35 Hungarian families and founded the colony of Kaposvar, named for the Hungarian city of Kaposvár. The colony flourished and more immigrants followed. English settlers had arrived in the area in 1882 and founded Sumner Parish in the north. Later came Swedes to the west, Czechs to the southwest, a German colony to the northeast, a Welsh one to the northwest, and a Jewish settlement in the southeast near Wapella. The town of Esterhazy was officially founded in 1905.
In 1962 a mining company, IMC Global (now Mosaic), completed the shaft for a potash mine. Today its two joint mines, K1 and K2, together produce more potash than any other mine in the world, which has earned Esterhazy the title "Potash capital of the world."
Two historic sites recall the past. The Esterhazy Flour Mill was designated a national historic site of Canada in 2009. Kaposvar Church, built in 1906–1907 with Hungarian farmers hauling stones from the surrounding area, is now home to the Kaposvar Historic Site and Museum, where tours are offered.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Esterhazy, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.