The Byrd School District was organized formally in November 1929 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW5-20-23W in the Rural Municipality of Rossburn. The district was named for American polar explorer Richard E. Byrd (1888-1956). The school closed permanently in 1962 and its district was dissolved, the area becoming part of the Rossburn Consolidated School District and later the Pelly Trail School Division. The former school building was sold to a local farmer for use as a granary. As of 1981, it still stood at the site. It was gone by 2003.
The teachers of Byrd School were Ann Antonichuk (1930-1934), Michael Tokar (1934-1936), Marie Lesiuk (1936-1940), Mary Chwaliboga (1940-1941), John Penonzik (1941-1942), Adam Juce (1942-1943), Oral Antonichuk (1943-1944), Bernice Kwiatkowski (1944-1945, 1946-1948), Joyce Sitko (1945-1946), Amy Zink (1948-1949), John Kowalchuk (1949-1950), Muriel M. Zepa (1950-1951), Anthony Peech (1951-1955), Mrs. Jean Michalchuk (1955-1956), Melfort Swidinsky (1956-1957), Mary Budz (1957-1959), Joyce Zegalski (1959-1960), Sonia Posmituck (1960-1961), and Shirley Luhowy (1961-1962).
Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.68339, W100.64164
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rossburn Centenary Monument (Municipality of Rossburn)
Rossburn East topographic map, 62K/10 East, Edition 1, Series A743 [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.
On the Sunny Slopes of the Riding Mountains, A History of Rossburn and District, Volume 1 by Rossburn History Club, 1984. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.R78 Ont]
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 26 April 2021
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