Historic Sites of Manitoba: Beautiful Valley School No. 924 (RM of Portage la Prairie)

Beautiful Valley School was established in the southeast quarter in 12-12-5 west of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, in July 1897. In addition to being used for educational purposes, it also provided a venue for church services. The school closed in 1965 and was formally consolidated into the Oakville School in April 1967. The school building was sold to a local resident.

Among the teachers who worked at Beautiful Valley School were B. McKenzie Gunn, Miss F. C. Lander, Miss B. Greenlay, Alex Armstrong, Jane Wilton, Annie Richmond, Pearl Rundle, Mabel Finch, Lucy Baldry, Ethel Finch, Edna Beal, Myrtle Whitmore, Mrs. Murray Colborne, Bertha McBain, Louise Blight, Illa Tidsbury, Edna Vint, Melissa O’Neil, Ruth Ewen, Dorothy Williams, Mrs. George Finnigan, Myra Parrot, Viola Daigle, Mary Andrews, Anna Bruce, Nora Gibbons, Dorothy Bell, Donald Hayward, Peggy Butler, Jean Blair, Isabel McKay, Zada Lytle, Lara Kristjanson, Rhoda Halliday, Marjorie Wood, Freda Bradley-Hunt, Isabel Smirl, Anne Poyser Pallister (1951-1952), Eva Mair, Muriel Barker, Joan Delbridge, Marlene Hunt, Vera Maloney, Ann Cleaver, Aynsley Shearer, and Rae Creed.

Beautiful Valley School (no date) by A. B. Fallis Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 23. Sketch of the Beautiful Valley School building by Charlotte Jones Source: University Women’s Club of Portage la Prairie. Beautiful Valley School commemorative sign (October 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.99583, W98.01057 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.

Rural Schools of Portage la Prairie School Division #24 by Muriel Wright, 1996.

Manitoba Permit Teachers of World War II, compiled by Louisa Loeb, Winnipeg: Hyperion Press Ltd., 2007.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 10 February 2021

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