The Ayr School District was formally established in May 1884, operating until July 1967 when it was merged into Gladstone Consolidated School No. 2457. The original log building (which is now on display at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum at Austin) was replaced in 1908 by this quaint concrete block building, situated immediately north of Mekiwin Cemetery, in the Rural Municipality of Lansdowne. Sometime between 2012 and 2015, the name plaque embedded in the south wall above the entrance door was removed. The building was later demolished and some of its concrete blocks were used to construct a monument at nearby Mekiwin Cemetery.
Among the teachers of Ayr School were Ella Wright (1883-1885), Maggie Milne (1885), Mr. McMillan (1885), Florence Schafer (1885-1886), Miss Aikenhead (1886-1887), Miss Martha Ritchie (1888), Miss Henry (1888), Miss O'Neil (1889), Miss Maggie Sparling (1890), John Duff (1890-1891), Mr. Hardy (1892), Miss Bella Mustard (1892-1893), Mr. D. Budge (1893-1894), Mr. Moodie (1894-1895), Mr. J. K. Hall (1895-1896), William John Pinn (1896), G. A. Hall (1896-1899), Miss Collins (1899-1901), Miss Ella Woodcock (1902), Miss Jones (1902-1903), Mr. Hogg (1903-1904), Miss Hattie Matthews (1904-1905), Miss Barbara Norris (1905-1906), Miss Hattie M. Mathews (1906), Miss Audrey A. Young (1907), Miss Jessie J. Murray (1907-1909), Florence H. Cruickshank (1909-1910) Constance Grant (1911), Winnifred “Winnie” Brantigam (1911-1912), Leith McMartin (1913-1914), Robina Y. Chisholm (1914), Agnes N. McMurchy (1915), J. A. Keays (1916), Margaret F. Rennie (1916-1917), E. Gertrude Ormrod (1917), Hilda G. Gilman (1918-1919, 1921), Violet L. Power (1920), Jean M. Miller (1920), L. Stephenson (1920), Elizabeth Stewart (1921), Ella B. Milne (1922-1923), C. A. Powell (1923), Emily Ferguson (1924), Alice Fraser (1924), Jennie P. Burns (1925-1927), Mary Muir (1927-1928), Ethel L. Burnside (1928-1929), Annie J. Critchley (1929-1934), Sylvia Margaretta Price (1934), Nellie Irene Roth (1935-1936), Gertrude Georgina Fraser (1937-1940), Florence Margaret Paterson (1940-1941), Muriel Margaret Gill (1941-1942), Phyllis Ann Mayers (1942-1943), Hazel Potter Dalgarno Ferguson (1944-1945, 1950), Kathleen Maud Blowers (1946-1947), Ireta Nadine Thorpe (1947), Shirley E. Fawns (1947-1948), Verla Marie Loney (1948-1949), Doreen Margareta Miller (1949-1950), Phyllis Griffith (1950-1951), Patricia Scott (1953), Salome Walker (1954), Mrs. M. Cruickshank (1955), Helen Turman (1955-1956), Beverley Wallis (1956-1958), Kathryn Mary Renwick (1958-1959), Lamont H. Bonner (1960-1961), and Jean Margaret Ferris (1961-1962).
The second Ayr School building (circa 1909)
Source: Education Department Report, 1909, Manitoba Legislative Library.
The second Ayr School building (no date) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 49.
The former Ayr School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 578.
The former Ayr School building (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former Ayr School building (May 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Ayr School building (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Basement of the former Ayr School building (May 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Ayr School commemorative monument at Mekiwin Cemetery (August 2018)
Source: Lorna ClarkSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.18424, W99.15691
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba Agricultural Museum (Austin, Municipality of North Norfolk)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Mekiwin Cemetery (Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne)
“Manitoba Agricultural Museum featured as pioneer showplace of the Prairies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 June 1971, page 44.
“A view of pioneer life,” Winnipeg Free Press New Leisure, 5 October 1974, page 12.
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.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Ayr School District No. 150 Daily Registers, GR3152, Archives of Manitoba.
Ayr School District No. 150 Registers, Manitoba Agricultural Museum.
We thank Lorna Clark for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Allan Drysdale, Gordon Goldsborough, and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 11 February 2024
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