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 & 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 (circa 1925) by D. R. Falconer Source: David Falconer Bowsman Union School under construction (1925) by D. R. Falconer Source: David Falconer 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 (September 1931) Source: Education Department Report, 1931, Manitoba Legislative Library. 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

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: 29 May 2022

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