Historic Sites of Manitoba: Omro School / Butler Union School No. 1401 (Butler, RM of Pipestone)

A monument, erected in 1993, commemorates pioneers of the Butler district in western Manitoba, in the Rural Municipality of Pipestone. It also commemorates the students and teachers of Omro School No. 1401 (spelled “Orma” on the monument), which was established formally in 1907, with a one-room schoolhouse at the southwest corner of SW33-9-29W. Ten years later, following the completion of the CNR line in the area, Butler Union School was established and a schoolhouse was situated at NW33-9-29W at Butler. The school closed permanently in 1966 and the district was dissolved in 1970. The school building is no longer present at the site.

The teachers of Omro School were Mamie Grundy (1907-1908), L. Winona Lindsay (1908-1909), George B. Patterson (1909), Norma E. Clark (1909), Leslie McIntyre (1910), Hettie Grant (1910-1913), Charles Vanderpart (1913), L. M. Vodden (1913), Mildren Clifford (1914), Catherine (Kathryn) Naylen (1914-1915), and Edith Moore (1915-1916).

The teachers of Butler Union School were Dorothy Wilkins (1918-1919), Elsie Manota Kenderdine (1919-1920), Alice Fulta (1920-1922), M. E. Mathews (1923-1924), Teresa V. Naylen (1924-1926, 1928-1935), Dorothy Warren (1926-1927), Hilda Sheridan (1927-1928), Grace Roach (1936-1946), Doris Ireland (1936-1937), Eleanor Scott (1939-1940), Nadia Pylypink (1940-1941), Carrie Hatch (1942-1943), Donna Wedow (1947-1948), George Oystreck (1948-1949), Jean A. Howes (1948), Mrs. Dora Osterbeck (1949), Roberta E. Hewitt (1949-1950), Beth Watson (1950-1951), Phyllis Skoglund (1951-1952), Ethel Northcut (1953-1955), Mrs. Bernice Baker (1955-1956), Violet H. Switzer (1956-1958), Mrs. Josie C. Graham (1958-1960), Kenneth Zamzou (1960-1962), Elizabeth Coulter (1964-1965), Margaret Lamb (1965), and Mrs. Joy Chambers (1966).

Omro School (25 May 1910) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Pipestone History Project 3, N14837. Butler Union School (no date) by W. R. Beveridge Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 111. Butler commemorative monument (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.79642, W101.36068 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Trails Along the Pipestone by Pipestone History Project, c1981, pages 47-48, 51. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.P56 Tra]

We thank Nathan Kramer and Dean Sharratt for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 31 March 2020

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