Known originally as Ebor School District when it was established in July 1897, its name was changed to Arawana School in 1912. A frame school building was erected on the south half of 19-10-28 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Rural Municipality of Wallace-Woodworth. It was only slightly damaged during the 1900 tornado that destroyed nearby Kola School. The school closed in June 1965. The district was dissolved and its catchment area was divided between Virden Consolidated School District No. 144, Elkhorn Consolidated School District No. 366, Kola School District No. 601, and Sanderson School District No. 442. The district was formally dissolved in July 1966.
For several years, the former school building was used for meetings and showers organized by the Arawana Ladies Club. Facing mounting vandalism, in 1981 they abandoned the school and it was burned in 1992. A fieldstone monument dedicated on 25 July 1993 commemorates it, along with the Ebor Post Office (1890-1906) and Arawana Post Office (1906-1923) located on the farm of Fred Chapple at NE24-10-29W.
Among the teachers of Arawana School were Miss Mary Groutage Edith Marks, Mary Bowerman, Amy Durno, Herbert Leighton, Leslie McIntyre, Lilian Balkwell, Mildred Clifford, Agnes (Stewart} Freeman, Elsie Ivans, E. S. “Bob” Mahon, Inga Bergstrom, Elsie Jones, Annie Noble, Verlie (Metcalf) Sinclair, Edith Grose, Gertie Carefoot, Emma Allison, Eretta (Lund) Lamont, Eileen Naylen, Eileen Carefoot, Betty McCracken, Lorne Jamieson, Gladys Snider, Beatrice Bullock, Phyllis Ayers, Georgina (Cole) Joseph, Mary Ellen (Rowand) Roach (1953-1954), and Marion Gordon (1964-1965).
Arawana School (no date) by W. R. Beveridge
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 22.
The former Arawana School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1424.
The former Arawana School building (1992)
Source: Mary Ellen (Rowand) Roach
Arawana School commemorative monument (September 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.84266, W101.26859
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ebor School No. 1332 / Ebor Monument / Ebor War Memorial (Ebor, RM of Pipestone)
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.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
Steel and Grass Roots, 1882-1981: History of Elkhorn by Elkhorn and District Historical Society, pages 92-93.
We thank Ed Arndt and Mary Ellen (Rowand) Roach for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 May 2024
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