Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bad Throat School No. 1014 (Manigotagan, Northern Manitoba)

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Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Bad Throat School District was established formally in April 1899 within unorganized territory that would become the settlement of Manigotagan. The origin of the district’s name was the phonetic Anglicization of the Ojibway (Saulteaux) phrase Mannuh-gundahgan, meaning “bad throat.” While earlier records favoured the Badthroat spelling, and later records tend to favour Bad Throat, both variants are commonly found within official school records; though unlike the surrounding settlement, the district did not rename to Manigotagan during its existence. Available records suggest the district was inactive until around March 1904 when local meetings were held to discuss where to build a wooden frame schoolhouse. Within the settlment, it was built on land owned by Allaus Maude, though the precise location of these first classroom quarters is uncertain. Classes first began in 1905 and continued into 1906, but were thereafter discontinued until 1914. In September 1917, the district boundaries were redrawn and expanded to include more of the surrounding area.

Two years later, in September 1919, the district issued $3,000 in debentures to acquire property and build a new schoolhouse. A three-acre site close to the river was purchased on River Lot 6 within Manigotagan (Townwnship 25 - Range 9 East). That was followed up with a further $1,500 in loans taken out in August 1920 for a smaller addition to the school structure along with construction a four-room teacherage (approximately 22 feet by 22 feet). Part of River Lot 6 was sold to Alexander Wood and Edgar Wood in 1943. As classroom attendance grew, so did the need for additional space, and in January 1953, the process was initated to borrow funds for a one-room expansion to the existing building. By November 1954, a $6,000 loan was secured for the addition school room, based on architectural drawings of G. Walker of the Department of Education. Another classroom capacity boost was found in 1959, with the district commissioning both a new two-room school (designed by the Watchler Manufacturing Company Limited), and a new two-bedroom teacherage (designed by Supervisor of Special Schools B. M. Grafton and interior designer George R. Walker), along with repairs to the old school. This new school was built by contractor H. T. Friesen of Grunthal. The district maintained independent operation until becoming part of the Frontier School Division #48 in 1965. The schools closed in the summer of 1968 and the fate of the two schoolhouses is not yet known.

Principals

Period	Principal
1953-1954	Ena Dolores Fitzpatrick
1954-1955	Augustine Albin? Nahachowsky?
1955-1956	Leonard A. Schultz
1956	Wilhelm Braun
1957	Ronald Haygomer?
1957	Wilhelm Braun
1957	Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette
1957-1959	David Penner
1959-1960	Lorna Fleury
1960-1962	Phyllis Solinsky
1962-1963	James Victor Koshelanyk
1963-1964	Jean Paul Grimard
1964	Gerald Alexander Shabaga
1964	Tina Wiebe
1964	?
1965	Tina Wiebe
1965-1967	Benno Richard Klaassen (1924-2014)
1967-1968	Modest Steve Gerelus (c1932-1973)

Teachers

Period	Teachers
1953-1954	Ena Dolores Fitzpatrick (grades 4-8), Evelyn Annie Ninje? (grades 1-3)
1954-1955	Augustine Albin? Nahachowsky? (grades 4-9), Peter John Wynnyk (grades 1-3)
1955-1956	Leonasrd A. Schultz (grades 4-9), John Alex Zyzewski? (grades 1-3)
1956-1957	Kathleen J. Braun (grades 1-3, September-December), Wilhelm Braun (grades 4-9, 1956 & 1957), Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (grades 4-9, 1957), Hilda Dyck (grades 1-3), Ronald Haygomer? (grades 4-9, 1957)
1957-1958	David Penner (grades 4-9), Peter H. Zacharias (grades 1-3)
1958-1959	Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (grades 1-3, September), David Penner (grades 7-11), Robert H. Turchyn (grades 1-3, September-December), Peter H. Zacharias (grades 3-6)
1959-1960	Raymond Bouchart (grades 4-6), Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (grades 1-3), Lorna Fleury (grades 7-9)
1960-1961	Agnes M. Barenz (grades 4-6), Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (grades 1-3), Phyllis Solinsky (grades 7-9)
1961-1962	Agnes M. Barenz (grades 4-6), Sister Yvette Leclerc (grades 1-3, September-October), Miss Laurence Prince (grades 1-3, November-June), Phyllis A. Solinsky (grades 7-9)
1962-1963	George Dryden Bush (grades 7-8), James Victor Koshelanyk (grades 9-11), Lucille M. Lepine (grades 1-3), Donna Marie McKendrick (grades 4-6)
1963-1964	Jean Paul Grimard (grades 9-11, 1963-1964), Gerald Alexander Shabaga (grades 5-8, 1963-1964; grades 5-11, 1964), Margaret Thiessen Shabaga (grades 1-4), Harold Glen Woods (grades 4-6, 1963)
1964-1965	Harvey Kenneth Bostrom (grades 9-12), Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (grades 5-8), Terance Quesnel (grades 1-4, 1964), Hedie Unrau (grades 1-4, 1964), Tina Wiebe (grades 1-4, 1964 & 1965)
1965-1966	Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (grades 3-4), Benno Richard Klaassen (grades 7-8), Robert W. Osadchuk (grades 5-6), Tina Wiebe (grades 1-2)
1966-1967	Benno Richard Klaassen (grades 7-8), Robert W. Osadchuk (grades 4-6), Jeanette L. Stucky (grades 1-3)
1967-1968	Modest Steve Gerelus (grades 7-8), Ruth Elaine Gerelus (grades 4-6), Jeanette L. Stucky (grades 1-3)

Among the other teachers who worked at Bad Throat School through the years were (1899-1901, none), (1902-1904, records unavailable), Henri Girard (1905), Paul B. Leouette (1905-1906), (1906-1913, none), Arthur Santmier (1914-1915), Willis? Stovall [Storvath?] (1916-1917), Bertha J. Garrod (1917-1918), Ida Marjorie Cleland (1918-1920, wife of William John McIntosh), Florence E. Adams (1920-1921), George W. Crago (1921-1922), Alex Brown (1922-1923), Mrs. M. C. Lockhard (1923-1925), Mrs. A. E. Campbell (1925-1926), G. E. Duncan (Fall 1926), J. O. White (1926-1927), Robert C. Marsh (1927-1931), Erma Ada Boate (1931-1934, wife of Roland Henri Quesnel), Armand LaFleche (1934-1935), Alan B. Cheales (1935-1936), Jessie Helen Prucyk (1936-1938), Nellie C. Rowe (1938-1941), Iza Waiser (1941-1942), Gladys Rose Hayward (1942-1943), G. Sigurdson (Fall 1943), Alma Corinne Quesnel (Spring 1944 - Spring 1945), Gordon George Gunn (1945-1946), Marjorie Baine Hunter (1946-1947), Yolanda Celina Bissette (1947-1948), Floyd Wilfred Trudeau (1948-1949), George Sandford Ward (1949-1950), Gladys Rose Sigurdson (1950-1952), and Alma Corinne Quesnel Boulette (1952-1953).

Photos & Coordinates

Bad Throat School (no date) by J. E. S. Dunlop Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 40. The expanded Bad Throat School (centre) with the St. Philip Anglican Church (left) (1973) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Government Photographs (CH 0267), GR3552, 73-1893. Blueprints of the Bad Throat School addition (c1954) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools [...] (E 0166), GR1206, File 1014 - Badthroat School District - Addition. Drawings for the new Bad Throat School (c1959) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools [...] (E 0166), GR1206, File 1014 - Badthroat School District - Blueprint for two-room school. Front and right elevation drawings for the Bad Throat School teacherage (c1959) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools [...] (E 0166), GR1206, File 1014 - Badthroat School District - Addition. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N51.10793, W96.29932 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Marriage [Erma Ada Boate] registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

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.

“Experiences teacher wanted for the Badthroat school district No. 1014 [...],” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 July 1942, page 16.

“Teachers [St. Laurent Municipal School District],” Winnipeg Free Press, 9 June 1962, page 42.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Badthroat School District No. 1014 - Daily Registers, GR2089, Archives of Manitoba.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), No. 5 - School District of Badthroat, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), No. 36 - School District of Badthroat, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Bad Throat School District No. 1014, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), Bad Throat School District No. 1014 - Cash Book, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), Bad Throat School District No. 1014 - Minute Book, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), Bad Throat School District No. 1014 - Miscellaneous, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), Bad Throat School District No. 1014, GR1630, Archives of Manitoba.

Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools directly administered by Department (E 0166), File 1014 - Badthroat - Permanent, GR1206, Archives of Manitoba.

Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools directly administered by Department (E 0166), File 1014 - Badthroat School District - Addition, GR1206, Archives of Manitoba.

Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools directly administered by Department (E 0166), File 1014 - Badthroat School District - Blueprint for two-room school, GR1206, Archives of Manitoba.

Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools directly administered by Department (E 0166), File 1014 - Badthroat School District - Wiring, GR1206, Archives of Manitoba.

School division borrowing files (MA 0038), Badthroat School District No. 1014, GR1798, Archives of Manitoba.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 10 February 2020

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