Historic Sites of Manitoba: Belle Creek School No. 1827 (RM of Mossey River)

The Belle Creek School District was established in May 1916 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW31-29-20W in the Rural Municipality of Mossey River. The original schoolhouse was replaced by the present structure around 1933. In 1964, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Ethelbert Consolidated School District and later the Duck Mountain School Division. The former school building was later used as a granary (with a school model and lists of teachers and students displayed inside) while the associated teacherage stood vacant at the time of a 2014 site visit.

The teachers of Belle Creek School were Jessie Zawsaky, Mrs. Personecka, Rose Hryhorczuk Beldoew (1929-1932), Konstantine Moschuck (1932-1936), Mrs. M. Bilosh (1936-1938), Nick Evasiuk (1938-1940), Mark Huley (1940-1943), Betty Ogryzko (1943-1945), Borislaw Nicholas Bilash (1945-1946), Miss H. Fedrchuk (1946-1947), William Gnazdowsky (1947-1948), Orest Gnazdowsky (1948-1949), Pete Filipchuk (1949-1950), Miss Olga Bestilechman (1950-1952), Alice Kinachuk (1952-1953), Anne Pozniak (1952-1953), Charlie Humenuik (1953-1955), Emily Yakubchak (1955-1956), Peter Ray Roebuck (1956-1957), Gerald Bernacki (1957-1958), Sterling Chicheluk (1958-1959), Julian Polowy (1959-1962), and Michael Kosinski (1962-1963).

The original Belle Creek School building (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 53. Belle Creek School teacherage (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 53. The former Belle Creek School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 802. The former Belle Creek School building (May 2014) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Interior of the former Belle Creek School building (May 2014) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The Belle Creek teacherage (May 2014) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N51.52693, W100.27214 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Garland West topographic map, 62N/9 West, Edition 1, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].

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.

We thank Borislaw Bilash for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 2 March 2021

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