The Camperville School District (misspelled Camperbill in some sources) was established formally in January 1931 and a one-room, wood-frame schoolhouse operated in the community of Camperville, immediately south of the Pine Creek First Nation in northern Manitoba. Initially, the school building was situated on Lot 7 in the Pine Creek Settlement, slightly south and east of the present Philomene Chartrand School site but around 1940, the school was moved to a three-acre site on Lot 5 (about N51.98729, W100.14907). Initially a single classroom, the building was later expanded with two more classrooms, then a separate building was constructed nearby to provide three additional classrooms (about N51.98761, W100.14861). A gymnasium was situated north of the two classroom buildings (about N51.98838, W100.14906). Most of the teachers at the school through the years were provided by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. A teacherage, also known as “The Convent,” was built in the early 1950s to provide accommodations for the nuns.
In the early 1950s, with the school district in arrears on its taxes, financial administration was taken over by J. A. Cameron, a trustee appointed by the provincial government. In 1967, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Duck Mountain School Division although the school remained open for two more years until being replaced by Philomene Chartrand School. The original school building was renovated into a private residence and the former gymasium became an adult education centre. The second classroom building has been removed from the site.
Some school registers are held by the Mountain View School Division offices near Dauphin. Others are at the Archives of Manitoba.
Among the teachers of Camperville School was Stella Howelko (1935-?).
Camperville School (no date) by J. S. Peach
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 119.
Former Camperville School (June 2016)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N51.98729, W100.14907
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Pine Creek Indian Residential School / Camperville Indian Residential School (Pine Creek First Nation)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Philomene Chartrand School (Camperville, Northern Manitoba)
School District Formation Files [Camperville School District No. 2230], GR1688, E0027, Archives of Manitoba.
Camperville School, School trustee files, H-14-1-7, E0034, GR1629, 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.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Dennis Thompson.
Page revised: 18 April 2022
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