The Barclay School District was established formally in April 1891 and a building was erected on the southwest corner of 34-3-7 west of the Principal Meridian, on an acre of land donated by local farmer Robert Barclay, in what is now the Municipality of Pembina. In 1939, the original stone foundation was replaced by a full basement. The school closed in January 1963 and its catchment area became part of the Darlingford Consolidated School District No. 1228. The school building was destroyed by fire on 3 July 1962. At its site is a commemorative monument, a small model of the school building, and a Century Farm plaque for the family of farmer Robert Barclay, for whom the school was named. A plaque affixed to the monument, unveiled on 5 August 1979, documents the occupancy of the surrounding land by the Barclays.
Among the teachers of Barclay School were Miss Nellie Hopkirk (1891), Adele Wilson (?), Bertha Stewart (?), Charlie Parker (1897), Allan Patterson (?), Viola Pollock (?), Sadie Stevenson (?), Miss Bessie Grain (c1908), Jean Wilke (?), Olive Whiteford (?), Easter Phipps (?), Pearl Amy (?), Georgian Switzer (?), Isobel Calder (1916), Cora Ingram (1917), Kathleen Kelly (1918), Beryl Forrest (1921), Pearl Reid (?), Mary Cocks (1923), Hilda Evett (?), Irene Mitchell (?), Martha Aspevig (1927), Irene Waddell (?), Ella Compton (?), Ann Sprott (?), Garnet Harland (1938), Donna Lougheed (1939), Isobel Martin (?), Dorothy Howatt (?), Margaret Chambers (?), Ruth Lowe (1944), Mildred Chisholm (?), Shirley Lochart (1950), Ireen McFee (?), Lois Esler (?), Ina Swain (?), Gwen Griffin (?), and Marion Snarr (?).
Barclay School (circa 1908)
Front row (left to right): George Collins, Willie McCelland, Len Hunt, Floyd Collins, Percy McCelland, Ivan Storey, Bessie Durnin, Leila Durnin, Olive Hunt, Veda Hunt
Back row (left to right): Sherm Collins, B. Boyle, Stuart Barclay, Fred Storey, Atwell Boyle, Errol Hunt, John Switzer, Lorne Storey
Source: Stan Barclay
Barclay School (no date) by G. G. Neufeld
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 104.
Barclay School commemorative monument (April 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.25183, W98.34067
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Robert Barclay (1845-1932)
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.
We thank Ed Grassick and Stan Barclay for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 January 2023
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