Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bruce School No. 170 (RM of Rockwood)

The Bruce School District was established in June 1884 and a stone, one-room schoolhouse operated at SW34-14-1E in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood. The school closed on 23 December 1914 and the district dissolved that year to became part of the Balmoral Consolidated School District. The former school building was renovated into a private residence. Its last occupant moved out in the 1950s after which the building was used as a granary. It was still standing at the site until around 2000 when it was demolished.

The teachers who worked at Bruce School included Edward W. Montgomery (1885), James A. Gordon (1886), Richard Weir (1886-1889), Jenny Wells (1890-1891), Bertha Oatway (1891), William Emsall (1892-1893), William H. Stratton (1894-1895), Elizabeth Cooper (1896-1897, 1899, 1900-1901), Ethel Stratton (1897-1898), John McCormack (1900), Ellen Inkster (1902-1905), Catherine McNabb (January-December 1906), Miss A. L. McCullough (January-July 1907), M. C. Cameron (August-September 1907), Eva Brady (October 1907 - December 1909), Clara E. Poyser (January 1910 - June 1912), Nan Morrow (August-December 1912), Dorothy Clayton (January - December 1913), and Isabella Inkster (January-December 1914).

The former Bruce School building

The former Bruce School building (May 1982)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Districts - Bruce

The former Bruce School building

The former Bruce School building (no date)
Source: Cliff Pulfer

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.23349, W97.39066
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bruce Junior High School / Bruce Middle School (333 Booth Drive, Winnipeg)

Sources:

Stonewall West topographic map, 62I/3 West, Edition 1, 1952, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].

Manitoba School Records Collection, Bruce School District No. 170 - Daily Registers, GR2661, Archives of Manitoba.

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.

100 Years of History: Rockwood Municipality by Rockwood Municipality History, 1982.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

“Trail A-OK,” Stonewall Argus, 23 October 2000, page 4.

We thank Cliff Pulfer, Nathan Kramer, and Linda Dietrick for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 12 November 2023

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