[9] Nearing the mid-1880s, there was a decline of bison in the Wood Mountain region, as a result of the United States government's attempt to starve out Sitting Bull.

The multifaceted willow played a large role in their wellbeing: In spring, our women harvested the supple, young shoots to make baskets.

Our men fashioned the wood into pipe stems, emergency snowshoes, snares, wooden nails, whistles for the children, beading looms, and frames for stretching hides.

[13] The Métis in Willow Bunch "played a key role in maintaining the peace during the time that the Sioux and the other American tribes were forced from the United States into the area of Wood Mountain.

"[14] The Métis were already settled in Willow Bunch when the North West Resistance, led by Louis Riel, battled the Canadian government over land rights.

[18] Along with pests, frosts and droughts which led to lower crop harvests, over-population of the Metis people were a part of the uneasy living conditions.

[20] This led to the first Metis settlement established, called La Coulee Chapelle, which is St. Victor today (located about 19 km west of Willow Bunch).

[21] After a devastating prairie fire destroyed much of the grass and timber in the area around Wood Mountain, Saskatchewan, many First Nations and Métis people were driven by a bison shortage and an increasing population to seek out new settlements.

[26][27] A small village grew around a spot where Reverend Pierre St. Germain, the head of the local parish at the time, chose to build a Catholic church.

The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) soon built a barracks in Bonneauville in 1886 as part of "B" Division, with 12 men and 13 horses,[28] following the Riel Rebellion in Batoche in 1885.

[38] In 1903–04, a severe winter, recounted by Reverend Claude J. Passaplan as the worst in recorded history at the time,[30] followed prairie fires and an early frost, leaving cattle with nothing to eat.

[30] The Catholic Bishop of the area made a request for 160 acres of land, but received only 80 from Jean-Louis Légaré, which became the present site of Willow Bunch.

[42] The stones and sand for the foundation and all building materials were hauled for free by parishioners of the Willow Bunch Catholic Church.

[51] William W. Davidson was elected as the Conservative Party Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the provincial Willow Bunch electoral district in 1912.

The dust storms were the outcome of a devastating drought, and the agricultural damage ended up costing the Saskatchewan provincial government more than $20 million.

[61] At the meeting, association president Robert Campkin discussed how the unity of local mines would help increase the retrieval of lignite coal.

It focused on postwar conflicts, the decline in wheat prices, the domestic coal situation in Saskatchewan, and Canada's need for more poultry, meat, and eggs.

[citation needed] Beginning in 1943, Saskatchewan Power began supplying electricity to the village from a coal burning plant in Estevan.

Pascal Bonneau Jr., Dr. Arsene Godin, Alphonse Dauphinais, Amedee Beaubien, W. Ineson, James Hazlett, and A. Saunier were the first members, elected in 1910.

In 1913, a committee which Treffle Bonneau served on sought provincial intervention in relation to rural municipal taxation on grazing lands.

Mrs. George Drouin also served her second term that year, and the two women were said to give stronger representation on a six-man council than any other town in the province.

[93] Through various groups and organizations that the women of Willow Bunch belong to, they often spend their time volunteering and raising money for charities and community causes.

Since the war their goal has been to help French Canadian women reach their full potential and to be proud of their heritage as a member of the minority in the community.

[111] Large scale cultivation was impractical for early settlers, as the soil contained saline flats, stony deposits, and slough areas, and the settlement lacked railway access to export markets.

Agriculture has been and continues as Willow Bunch's largest industry, with spring wheat, durum, oats, barley, and flax seeing the most consistent production over the last 30 years, since 1982.

It has two full floors of eight exhibits, which are individually dedicated to Édouard Beaupré, pioneers, the chapel, town archives, homemakers, Métis, North-West Mounted Police/tools and technology, and the hospital.

[126] Most Willow Bunch residents speak English as their mother tongue (84%), a smaller percentile identify French as their first official language (17%).

[125] In terms of occupation, the 2011 Canadian Household Survey reported that residents held the following positions:[126] The median income in Willow Bunch is $24, 252.

[149] The Métis were also included in these teachings, but only regarding their participation in the 1885 North-West Rebellion[149] The provincial government promised[147] to help with the school's increased costs attributed to it being bilingual.

The building was put up for sale in 1983 due to declining members of the convent, and the school division no longer renting classroom space, and was purchased by the town in 1985 to house the museum.