many of them arriving in the Steinbach area. Moscow Road, which had been pejoratively named to refer to the Russlander Mennonites who lived there, was later renamed McKenzie Avenue after the Prime Minister who had allowed them to come to Canada as refugees. In 1941, the Steinbach Credit Union opened, partially in response to the difficulty in obtaining loans from the larger banks. During World War II, most Steinbachers who were eligible for the draft served in alternative service as conscientious objectors, though some also served in the active military. After the war, a third major wave of immigration boosted Steinbach's population, with thousands of Mennonites again fleeing Europe. Incorporation as a town (1946–1996) Steinbach was incorporated as a town on 31 December 1946, with the Main Street being paved the following year. The new town elected Klaas Barkman as mayor who, along with councillor and auto-dealer A.D. Penner, had been instrumental in Steinbach's incorporation. As the regional service centre for the area, Steinbach developed manufacturing, trucking, and retailing, particularly in automobile sales. Steinbach became known regionally as the "Automobile City", a name coined by A.D. Penner. From the 1940s to the 1960s, T.G. Smith, was a local bank manager who organized many of Steinbach's first recreational activities, which the Mennonite population had been reluctant to adopt on their own. In 1958, Leonard Barkman was elected mayor and served until 1970. Barkman, a member of the Liberal Party, also served as M.L.A. while mayor of Steinbach, a once common practice that is no longer permitted in Manitoba. Barkman was the first Mennonite from the area, who had previously eschewed this level of political involvement, to join the Manitoba Legislature. During the 1950s and 60s, Steinbach was home to many Christian revival meetings, including frequent visits by George Brunk, Ben D. Reimer and others. These meetings were held in a quonset just off of Main Street called The Tabernacle. The new more evangelical theology transformed the doctrine and practices of many of the local Mennonite churches and contributed to their assimilation. Many local churches adopted evangelical theology or merged it with their traditional Anabaptist theology, and some dropped the Mennonite label altogether. In 1960, the Kleine Gemeinde church building, which by then was called the Evangelical Mennonite Conference, burned to the ground. The same year, the last traditional Mennonite housebarn in Steinbach was torn down by A.D. Penner. Partially in response