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The first school in the Brookdale area, in the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, was established in September 1883. Brookdale School No. 168 operated for 22 years in a building on the southwest corner of 24-12-16 west of the Principal Meridian.
In 1904, the original school building was sold, and Brookdale School District No. 1299 was established in the village of Brookdale. A two-storey, four-classroom building was erected, using brick from the Sidney Brick Yard, based on a design by Brandon architect William Alexander Elliott. It became Brookdale Consolidated School in May 1915 when it joined the school consolidation movement by combining with Harburn School No. 1313 and Craig School No. 1458. Four years later, Belton School No. 370 and Freeland School No. 711 joined the consolidated district.
Renovated around 1919, the building was destroyed in a fire that started in its basement on Christmas Day, 1923. Classes resumed early in the new year, in a local church and Odd Fellows Hall. The one-storey brick replacement building, designed by Winnipeg architect Gilbert Parfitt and built at a cost of $25,000, opened for operation in November 1924. (Nearly identical school buildings were built at Deloraine, Ninette, Shoal Lake, and Woodhaven in Winnipeg.) At the same time, rows of spruce trees were planted around the school grounds as a shelterbelt.
The first classes in grade 12 were held at Brookdale in 1932-1933. A new building for senior students was built nearby in 1961 and named Unity Collegiate. The last grade 12 class graduated in 1968, after which students in grades 11 and 12 were bussed to Neepawa or Carberry. The building became an elementary school after the earlier building closed in September 1971. That building was destroyed by fire sometime between 1971 and 1980. A monument was erected near the former school site, along with its cornerstone.
Period
Principal
1920-1921
Grace Frances Huntley
1921-1923
H. Allan Fisher
1923-1924
Hugh Connolly (1890-1970)
1924-1925
Eva Calverley (1895-1988)
1925-1928
George W. King (?-?)
1928-1929
J. D. Aikenhead
1929-1931
John Lorne McAllister (1907-1998)
1931-1936
Gerald Leopold Kramer (1908-1977)
1936-1941
John Henry Doughty (1900-1958)
1941-1943
Hilton Clarence Harper (1914-2005)
1943-1945
Arthur Cecil Diehl (1910-1990)
1945-1946
Wilfrid Blair “Wilf” Book (1917-1998)
1946-1948
Abiah Davies Morgan (1899-1967)
1948-1950
Mrs. Marie MacDonald
1950-1951
Ralph Sotolov (1924-2019)
1951-1952
Guy William John Costley (1924-1988)
1952-1953
H. W. Walker
1953-1956
William Meldrum (1884-1959)
1956-1957
Howard F. Neable
1957-1959
William Morrow Ingram (1907-1964)
1959-1965
Mrs. Marie MacDonald
1965-1966
L. J. Manko
1966-1968
?
1968-1970
E. Kostecki
1970-1991
?
1991-1992
Vivianne Howard
School Year
Teachers
1920-1921
Miss F. M. Cameron, M. L. Murphy
1921-1991
?
1991-1992
Heather Bartz, Donna Christison, Fran Fraser, Vivianne Howard, Roderick Keith McEwen, Roberta Vince
Among the teachers who taught at the Brookdale School were Miss Nelson (1894), Mr. Lamont (1894), M. Stephens (1897), Miss Hodson (1900), Miss Effie Hamilton (1901-1902), Miss Baldwin (1902-1903), Miss McGillan (1904), Mr. Millen (1904-1910), Miss Murray (1915), Millie Ducklow (circa 1919), Miss G. F. Huntley (1921), Miss E. V. Walker (1921), Marge Renwick, Mrs. Grant (1924), Mrs. Hills (1924), William Ingram (1924), Miss V. Bjarnason (1924), Mr. H. McFayden (1924), Mrs. Boyd (1924), Mrs. Strang (1924), Miss Merrille Brigden (1927), Marie Evans (1932-1933), Mrs. Agnes Strang (1957-1969), Mrs. Jean McDonald (1969-1983), Mr. Ewart Hudson, Mr. Blair, Jessie Mills, Lonnie McDonald, Ron Stacey, Mr. Rogan, Miss Batho, Miss Cathcart, Mr. Neeble, Miss Weir, Miss Lang, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Balderson, Miss Moffatt, Mr. Fouchon, Miss Hedley, Miss Pulieu, Mr. Davidchuk, Miss Armstrong, Mr. Walker, Mrs. MacDonald, Mr. Costley, Miss Ramsey, Mrs. Ames, Mr. Spidel, Gordon Victor Reynolds (c1951), Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, Miss Humeston, Miss Jones, Miss Chisholm, Mr. Book, Miss Ferguson, Miss McKay, Miss Lockheed, Miss Ishenberg, Mr. Deihl, Miss Robson, Miss Lamont, Miss Martin, Miss Brigdon, Mr. Harper, Miss White, Mr. Redcliff, Mr. Doughty, Miss Douglas, Miss Simpson, Miss McDonald, Miss Thompson, Miss Brown, Miss Patmore, Don Clark (1985-1986), Ellen Walker (1985-1986), Ruth Slezak (1985-1986), Gerry Oliver (1985-1986), Fran Fraser (1985-1986), Lisa Reynolds (1985-1986), and Roderick Keith McEwen (1991-1994).
The original two-storey Brookdale Consolidated School, destroyed by fire in 1923 (no date)
Source: Quest in Roots by Brookdale Historical Society, 1987. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.B81Que]
Blueprint of basement plan of Brookdale School (1924) by Gilbert Parfitt
Source: Manitoba School Records Collection, Woodhaven School District No. 2093 - Architectural Plans, GR2053, Archives of Manitoba.
Brookdale Consolidated School (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 94.
Brookdale School commemorative monument (August 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.04562, W99.56463
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: William Alexander Elliott (1866-1957)
“The Indian famine fund,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 March 1897, page 4.
“Teachers at the convention,” Brandon Sun, 15 October 1920, page 6.
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
“Brookdale school building destroyed,” Manitoba Free Press, 26 December 1923, page 1.
“Sealed Tenders,” Manitoba Free Press, 3 March 1924, page 18.
“Constructional Activity,” Contract Record and Engineering Review, 12 March 1924, page 48.
“Specification, School, Ninette S.D. No. 1028, Manitoba,” 1926. [T. Tennant, Ninette, Manitoba]
The Carberry Plains: 50 Years of Progress, Carberry, 1959.
“50 years ago today,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 November 1974, page 20.
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.
Quest in Roots: Welcome to the History Area by Brookdale Historical Society, Brandon: Leech Printing, 1987. Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.B81 Que.
“Brookdale school news,” Neepawa Banner, 16 September 1991, page 9.
“Brookdale playground grand opening,” Neepawa Banner, 19 September 1994, page 4.
We thank Tricia Tennant and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 October 2024
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