Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bowsman Union School No. 1273 / Bowsman Collegiate (Bowsman, Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman)

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

The Bowsman Union School District was established formally in March 1904 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at Bowsman in what is now the Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman. Betwen 1925 and 1926, the original building was replaced by a two-storey brick structure constructed by the Winnipeg construction firm of Macaw and Macdonald. The building is no longer present at the site but a stone monument containing its cornerstone and bell commemorates it.

Principals

Period

Principal

1922-1924

Solomon Abraham (1872-1942)

1924-1925

David Raymond “Ray” Falconer (1904-1989)

1925-1927

William Skidmore (c1885-?)

1927-1930

James Clark Whenham (1896-1970)

1930-1932

John Edward Lysecki (1905-1990)

1932-1940

Arthur Johann Buhr (1908-2003)

1940-1945

Robert William “Bob” Dalton (1911-1999)

1945-1947

V. C. MacDonald

1947-1948

William George Cooper (1911-1983)

1948-1949

Olive Mildred McMahon (c1914-1962)

1949-1954

C. Bachinski

1954-1955

N. A. McIntyre

1955-1956

George H. Schafer

1956-1959

Edwin A. Woods

1959-1960

J. W. Carley

1960-1962

George Papas

1962-1964

Andrew John Legebokoff (c1924-2014)

1964-1967

D. Kitsch

1967-1970

J. Fawcett

1970-1972

H. Jersak

1972-1973

P. Terekoff

Vice-Principals

Period

Vice-Principal

1942-1943

Wilfrid Blair “Wilf” Book (1917-1998)

Teachers

Among the early teachers of Bowsman Union School were Anna Shathdee? (Spring 1908 - Spring 1909), John Wesley Harris (Fall 1909 - Spring 1911), Edgar L. Bric? (Fall 1911 - Spring 1912), and Margaret B. McLeod (Fall 1912).

School Year

Teachers

1963-1964

Mrs. E. L. Gunvaldsen, Delmer Kitsch, Mrs. Karen Orchard, Walter Zukewich

Photos & Coordinates

Original one-classroom Bowsman School

Original one-classroom Bowsman School (circa 1925) by D. R. Falconer
Source: David Falconer

Bowsman Union School under construction

Bowsman Union School under construction (1925) by D. R. Falconer
Source: David Falconer

Bowsman Union School

Bowsman Union School (no date) by J. S. Peach
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 89.

Bowsman War Memorial beside the Bowsman Union School

Bowsman War Memorial beside the Bowsman Union School (September 1931)
Source: Education Department Report, 1931, Manitoba Legislative Library.

Bowsman Union School commemorative monument

Bowsman Union School commemorative monument (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N52.23350, W101.20862
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Manitoba Business: M and M Construction / Macaw and Macdonald

Sources:

“Constructional Activity,” Contract Record and Engineering Review, 24 March 1926, page 54.

“Bowsman, Man.,” Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, May 1929, Archives of Manitoba.

“3800 pupils enrolled for 1963-1964 term,” Swan Valley Star and Times, 29 August 1963, page 1.

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

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.

We thank Nathan Kramer and David Falconer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 17 July 2023

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