DERKSEN PRINTERS LTD.

 • is a Canadian Company, founded in 1936 as a small storefront print shop in Steinbach, Manitoba

 • has grown into a modern full-service printing facility meeting the needs of today's business

 • is a self contained printing plant with complete prepress facilities, including high end color scanner, four color presses for both sheet and web requirements and bindery/mailing facilities. Derksen Printers has become a specialist in short-run web printing of newspapers and flyers as well as addressing and mailing of publications.
 
• also publishes The Carillon, an award-winning community weekly newspaper serving Steinbach and southeastern Manitoba

   Our creative and technical people are capable of handling your files or, if required, designing and executing your print job.

 

 COMPANY HISTORY

   The Gerhard S. and Maria Derksen family emigrated to Canada from Russia in 1923 and initially settled on a farm in Herbert, Saskatchewan.

   Mr. Derksen, who had been a school teacher back home, eventually decided that farming, especially during the Depression years, was not his chosen vocation. In 1932 he and his young family of three sons and two daughters moved to Steinbach where he worked as a writer for the German language Steinbach Post, then owned and operated by Arnold Dyck, his friend and former colleague in Russia.

   Within four years Gerhard Derksen bought the newspaper and the small commercial printing shop. The company was called Derksen Printers and it was located at the present day location on Main Street.

   The business was very much a family affair. Mr. Derksen's sons Eugene, George and Bruno and son-in-law Peter Rosenfeld (husband of Anna) were part of the operation. A decade after buying the business, the Derksens made a decision which would be key to the company's future operations. While continuing to publish the Steinbach Post for many years, they realized the need for an English language newspaper serving all of southeastern Manitoba.

   The Carillon News made its debut on Feb. 21, 1946 and became an instant success under the guidance of Eugene Derksen as editor and Bruno Derksen as advertising manager. George Derksen and Peter Rosenfeld were the typesetters. Ernest Neufeld, a brother-in-law, also became a partner and worked as a typesetter and sports reporter while his wife Irene (Eugene's sister) was the office manager.

   Both George Derksen and Ernest Neufeld moved to Saskatchewan later and became weekly newspaper publishers, owning the Estevan Mercury and Weyburn Review respectively. The Carillon went on to become the largest and most successful rural newspaper in the province, winning literally hundreds of awards both provincially and nationally. It continues to publish award-winning issues.

   Though the founder of Derksen Printers, Gerhard Derksen, passed away in 1957 -- and Eugene , the driving force behind the newspaper for many years, died in 1994 -- the company remains a growing family enterprise in the field of printing and newspaper publishing. It is also the largest custom newspaper printing plant in rural Manitoba and has become a major publisher of specialty publications.

   The newspaper and printing operation employ about 50 people full time and a further 15 in casual and part-time work.
Derksen Printers Ltd.