Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ager School No. 1318 (RM of Thompson)

The Ager School District was organized formally in October 1904, named for local settler John Ager, and a school building was constructed the next year in the northeast quarter of 29-4-5 west of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Thompson. The building was remodelled in 1948 and destroyed by fire in 1957. A new structure was built and it operated until June 1960. The district was dissolved and its area was added to that of Rosebank School. The former school building was moved one mile east and one mile south, to SE28-4-5W, where it was renovated into a private residence.

Among the teachers who worked at Ager School through the years were Etta Trevithick (1905-1907), Jessie Greenwood (1907-1909), Rae George (1909, 1910-1911), Louis Curtis (1909-1910), Florence Coates (1910), Lulu Moir (1911), Isabelle Broadfoot (1912), Maggie Saunders (1913-1915), V. Churchill (1915), Millie Coghlan (1915), Mayme Kennedy (1916), Florence McConnell (1917-1918), R. Joseph (1918), Jean R. Cox (1919-1920), Dorothy Bertram (1920), Ruth Spurway (1921-1922), Nettanis B. Vaux (1922-1923), Ruth Owens (1923-1926), Arthur Lawson (1926-1928), Annie E. Gilligan (1928-1932), Lillian E. Gilligan (1932-1935), Alice M. Laycock (1935-1938), Jean Sutherland (1938-1940), Isabelle Smith (1940-1941), Kathleen Laycock (1941, 1952-1953), Olive Pearson (1941-1942), Hermina Warning (1942-1943), Rosemary Matthews (1943-1944), Dorothy Pow (1944-1945), Doris Gronback (1945-1946), Ellen Couch (1946), Don Muir (1946), Glen Mellis (1947), Jean Jackson (1947-1948), Eva Dauphinais (1948-1949, 1950-1951), Margaret Young (1949), Lionel Wasilka (1951-1952), Roy Warner (1953), Doreen Dracass (1953-1955), Janet Stevenson (1955-1956), Margaret Ann Glover Beckett (1956-1957, 1958), Joan Popkes Hawley (1957-1958), and Anne Gilligan Thomson (1958-1960).

The original Ager School building (no date) by A. J. Manning Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 97. Ager School commemorative sign (October 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.33883, W98.09223 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

One Hundred Years in the History of the Rural Schools of Manitoba: Their Formation, Reorganization and Dissolution (1871-1971) by Mary B. Perfect, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, April 1978.

Miami & R. M. of Thompson Chronicles by Thompson History Book Committee, c1998. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.M50Mia]

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 16 February 2021

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