[3][4] This name was changed by clerics in the region in 1890 during the temperance movement after it was believed to mean or sound like "sip of whisky".

[6] This stable food supply helped Indigenous and later on the first European explorers to sustain themselves on this open land.

[6] Noted explorer David Thompson may have been the first European to arrive or see the land when he travelled the Souris River in 1797.

[6] His diaries cite a place where they camped on the Souris to secure supplies and continue the expedition and this campsite was supposedly the site of present day Wawanesa.

[6] Wawanesa was established in August 1889 when the Story family left Lanark, Ontario for the northwest by rail and then packed all their belongings on one wagon in Glenboro and travelled west.

"[6] J.J. Story persuaded Joe Ferris from Glenboro, 20 miles (32 km) away to come to the site and help construct a building which was the first such built at Wawanesa and thus established the community.

[6] The Story home served as both a residence but they also operated a general store from the building, starting the growth of businesses along Main Street.

[6] The mill was then established in Wawanesa which proved to be a real boon to the community and helped build the economy and flour and grains were shipped from the area around the country and world.

[6] Running the numbers, the business plan seemed doable and Kempton opened the company on the second floor of the drug store.

The railway was building a new bridge in the area and a number of workers had been stationed in Wawanesa at the time and the community gave them resident status which allowed it to meet the threshold of 500 people.

[6] When World War II began, the men and women of the area again answered the calls for help from their country.

In 1954 an article ran in Canada's national magazine titled "The One-Horse Town That Spawned a Giant" telling the story of Wawanesa Insurance and spreading the name of the village as far away as New Zealand and Australia.