Breton

Keystone, known as a ‘black settlement’, was first established when William and Matie Allen African Americans from Oklahoma, arrived in the area in the early 1907 and laid the groundwork for its formation in 1909. Grounded in faith, the farming community’s first institution built was a church. With the arrival of the railway in the mid-1920s, came lumber mills and other work opportunities and the name changed from ‘Keystone’ to the town of ‘Breton’ in 1927. The population grew to include a variety of nationalities. Still, over time, the onset of each world war and the Depression years led to an ever decrease in the African American Canadian family presence in the Breton area. As a reminder of its rich history a museum was established and the black pioneer cemetery still stands.