Historic Sites of Manitoba: Birtle Consolidated School No. 132 (Birtle, Municipality of Prairie View)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Birtle Consolidated School was established in Birtle, in December 1911, from the consolidation of Birtle School No. 132 with Blenheim School No. 173 and Gnanton School No. 715. It occupied a two-storey stone structure, built in 1882-1883 that was later leased to the federal government for use as an Indian School. It was replaced by a two-storey structure, known locally as the “Blue School.” Starting in 1917, high school classes were held in an old Methodist Church until a four-classroom brick school was built in 1928. The Blue School was destroyed by fire in the September 1943. Elementary classes were moved to the Town Hall, Brick High School, and Courtroom until four rooms and an auditorium could be added to the Brick High School in early 1949. Increases in student enrollment caused overcrowding so, in 1956, a four-classroom North School was built. Later consolidated brought the students of the former Burdette School No. 163 (1959), Oxford School No. 257 (1961), Buckleyville School No. 1435 (1964), and Rothesay School No. 350 (1967).

The Birtle School Board disbanded when, in January 1968, the district became part of the Birdtail River School Division. Under the School Division Board, the buildings of the former Beulah School No. 162 and Isabella School No. 1333 were brought to Birtle for use at the site of the Brick School.

Principals

Period	Principal
1890-1891	Felton Strudwicke [Strudwick] Chapman (1864-1936)
1891	Charles Morley Vanstone (1870-1953)
1891-1892	Archibald Reuben Tingley (1871-1938)
1892-1898	?
1898-1904	Daniel Armenius Wickware (1861-1917)
1904-1905	Francis Henry “Frank” Belton (1869-1936)
1905-1906	William Edgar Pye (1858-1946)
1906-1907	William Joseph Cram (1861-1940)
1907-1910	James Humphrey Plewes (1873-1963)
1910-1912	?
1912-1913	Rufus Freeman Meadows (1879-1962)
1913-1915	Arthur E. Hensley
1915-1918	Howard Robert Haines (1891-1974)
1918-1920	W. C. Jones
1920-1922	Edward Sandford Lord (1869-1922)
1922-1928	James Ogel Beckstead (1883-1985)
1928-1929	Hazel D. Manwaring
1929-1939	Norman Robson (1900-1978)
1939-1940	Peter S. Buhr
1940-1966	Clarence Eric Tibbatts (1904-1979)
1967-1973	Harvey C. Kingdon
1973-1988	?
1988-?	Robert Henry Marshall (?-?)

Principals (Birtle Collegiate)

Period	Principal
1988-?	Albert Parnetta

Vice-Principals (Birtle Collegiate)

Period	Vice-Principal
1988-?	Allan Bray

Teachers

School Year	Teachers
1961-1962	Mrs. Leone Dale, Mrs. Bernice Hodgson, Mr. Albert Parnetta, Miss Evelyn Preston, Mr. Ray Simms

Among the other teachers who worked at Birtle School through the years were Alexander Noble (1934-1936), Marshall Hall-Jones, Miss D. Finkbeiner, Miss M. Woods, Mrs. M. S. Williamson, J. McLennan, Grace E. Menzies, and Catherine Bunten Makepeace.

Photos & Coordinates

The “Blue School” of Birtle Consolidated School (circa 1912) Source: Consolidation of Rural Schools in Manitoba, Special Report of the Department of Education for the Year 1912, Manitoba Legislative Library. The old Birtle School building, seen here in the 1920s, was extensively damaged by fire in September 1943, by G. W. Bartlett Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 45. The old Birtle School building (no date) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2015-0052 Students beside the newly-constructed “Brick School” of Birtle Consolidated School (circa 1929) Source: Education Department Report, 1929, Manitoba Legislative Library. The newly-constructed “Brick School” of Birtle Consolidated School (no date) by G. W. Bartlett Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 45. Birtle School (no date) Source: Archives of Manitoba, George Harris Fonds, Acc. 1979-141, P7454, Album 21, Page 91. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.41939, W101.04216 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Birtle Indian Residential School (Birtle, Municipality of Prairie View)

Sources:

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“Birtle, Man,” Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, September 1911, Archives of Manitoba.

Birtle school fire, Winnipeg Free Press, 20 September 1943, page 3.

“Council reports,” Birtle Eyewitness, 3 October 1961, page 10.

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.

“Trustees conduct regular meeting,” Hamiota Echo, 13 September 1988, page 7.

We thank Nathan Kramer and Drew Makepeace for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 3 January 2022

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