The Berton School District was organized formally in December 1917 and a school building operated in Helston in what is now the Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne. It closed in 1967. The former school building is no longer present at the site but a monument, dedicated on 17 July 1994, commemorates it.
The village of Berton was established in 1902 as a siding on the Canadian Northern Railway. Its name changed to Helston in 1924. At its height, Berton/Helston comprised a railway station, grain elevator, church and manse, post office and general store (1905-1970), skating and curling rinks, and community hall. Most of these buildings are now gone.
Berton School (no date) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 58.
Berton School commemorative monument (July 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.13082, W99.11071
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.
Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques and Manitoba Community Commemorative Plaques, Fiscal Year 1994-1995, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Citizenship, page 30.
This page was prepared by Allan Drysdale and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 31 January 2021
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