The Belses School District was established formally in March 1887, with a one-room frame schoolhouse constructed on the southwest corner of 22-6-26 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of Two Borders. The original building was replaced by the present one sometime before 1927. The district was dissolved in 1968 and the remaining students went to Pipestone Consolidated School No. 737. A commemorative plaque was unveiled near the former school building in 1987. The building itself was renovated into a private residence but, as of late 2011, stands vacant.
The teachers of Belses School were Jeannie Brown (1887), Bella Bulloch (1888), Jennie Rattray (1889), Walter Drew (1890), James Beath (1891), Agnes Mott (1891), Bella Bulloch (1892), Allan Lang (1892), Kathleen House (1893-1895), D. Muldrew (1896), Agnes Grant (1897), Emily Rattray (1898), Hilda Johnston, Mildred Shore (1899), Peter McDonald (1900), Miss Mitchell (1900), Mabel Speirr (1900), Miss Robinson (1900), Miss Chemions (1900), Miss Maloney (1900), Miss L. C. Graham (1911), Lillian Reddel (1911), Gladys Hamilton (1912), Gertrude MacDougall (1914-1919), Marguerite Armina Ayers (Fall 1919 - Spring 1920), Mary V. Sloan (Fall 1920 - Spring 1921), Miss Martin (1922), Miss Pollock (1923), Jean Ledingham (1925), I. V. Busby (1927), Myrtle De Will (1927), Sara Ledingham (1928), Myrtle Crossman (1931-1933), Marjorie Fairlie (1933-1935), Mildred Tufts (1935-1938), Ina Beattie (1938), Mrs. Jean Scott (1938), Miss G. Duncan (1940-1943), Marie Cancade (1943), Jean Gilmer (1944), Catherine Henuset (1945), Margaret Dodds (1946), Dorothy Steeke (1947), Stene Lupick (1949), Mylo Beatty (1950), Marion Elliot (1951-1953), Florence Armstrong, Winnifred Pierce, Mildred Dodds, Donna Cook, Georgina Fraser, Jessie Rowan, Fae Traill, Mrs. Gertrude Perkins, Roy Duthie (1959), Phyllis Millions (1960), Mrs. Gladys Patmore (1961-1965), and Wendy Borreson (1965-1967).
Students and teacher of Belses School (1906)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Pipestone History Project 7, N14841.
Belses School (no date) by George Hunter
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 74.
The former Belses School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 4.
The former Belses School building (October 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Belses School monument and building (October 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.48822, W100.91583
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
Trails Along the Pipestone by Pipestone History Project, c1981, page 76. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.P56 Tra]
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 October 2024
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