Killarney, Man, Town, pop 2221 (2001c), 2208 (1996c), 2163 (1991c), 2318 (1986c), area 5.04 km2, inc 1903 (village), 1907 (town), is an agricultural and recreational centre on Killarney (formerly Oak) Lake, 230 km southwest of Winnipeg and 20 km north of the Canada-US border. The area and nearby Turtle Mountain were traversed by Native hunters, fur traders and explorers. Métis settled near Rock and Pelican lakes in the mid-1800s.
Eastern Canadian and British squatters followed in the late 1870s, and then French, Belgian, Dutch, Mennonite and central European homesteaders. A struggling crofter settlement of Scottish labourers and fishermen was established in 1888-89.
Although Killarney was founded in 1880-81, it did not boom until the arrival of the Manitoba Southwestern Colonization Railway (1885). The boom lasted until about 1911. In later years, Killarney became a key service and shipping centre for area farmers. By 1896 cottages had appeared at Killarney Lake, beginning one of several recreational resources in the area.