Historic Sites of Manitoba: Beauchemin School / Charleswood School No. 826 (Roblin Boulevard, Winnipeg)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Charleswood School District was established formally in August 1894, and a wood frame school operated on lots 59 and 60, donated by local resident Pat Beauchemin, in what would later become the Municipality of Charleswood, now a suburb of Winnipeg. In 1914, the original schoolhouse was replaced at the site by a two-storey, red brick building designed by Winnipeg architect E. D. Tuttle. Initially named Beauchemin School, it was later renamed Charleswood School. By the 1930s, the school hosted grades 1 to 11 in three of its four classrooms, with the fourth room used as the municipal office. An indoor recreation facility was in the basement along with bathrooms that lacked running water. In 1951, it became Charleswood Consolidated School No. 2337, merging with Loudoun School No. 1511 and Chapman School No. 1677.

Charleswood School closed in 1956 and henceforth students went to other newly-constructed schools in the area: Beaumont School, Dieppe School, or Royal School. High school students went to Chapman School for a time until Charleswood Collegiate was built. The former Charleswood School building was taken over by the Royal Canadian Legion, which used it as a Legion Hall until a new structure was erected. The building was demolished in 1969.

Principals

Period	Principal
1921-1922	Albina Marie Bleau (1897-1982)
1922-1923	?
1923-1928	George Morgan Wade (1894-1984)
1928-1944	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (1899-1990)
1944-1949	?
1948-1949	George Lecoq (1905-2000)
1949	?
1949-1950	Louis Erwin “Lewis” Gendron (1896-1973)
1950-1952	Benjamin Franklin Olson (1898-1981)
1952-1953	Alice Marie Rousseau
1953-1954	Ernest Friesen Reimer (1909-1999)
1954-1955	Irvin Labovitch
1955-1956	Lillian Eva Elizabeth Robertson

Teachers

School Year	Teachers
1923-1924	Mrs. Maud P. Hill (intermediate grades), Netta McArthur (primary grades), George M. Wade (grades 9-11)
1924-1925	George M. Wade (collegiate grades)
1925-1926	George M. Wade (collegiate grades)
1926-1927	George M. Wade (collegiate grades)
1927-1928	E. C. Cameron (? grades), J. H. Dunlop (? grades), George M. Wade (collegiate grades)
1928-1929	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1929-1930	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1930-1931	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1931-1932	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1932-1933	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1933-1934	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1934-1935	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1935-1936	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1936-1937	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1937-1938	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1938-1939	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1939-1940	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1940-1941	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1941-1942	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1942-1943	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Mae Eileen Smith (grades 5-8), ? (grades 1-4)
1943-1944	Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1944-1945	Christina Fraser (grades 1-3), L. Magnusson (grades 4-6), ? (other grades)
1945-1946	?
1946-1947	?
1947-1948	Dorothy Mary Sheldrake (grades 4-6)
1948-1949	Helen Arnason (grades ?), Jeanette Defresne (grades ?), George Lecoq (high school grades), Dorothy Mary Sheldrake (grades ?), Margaret Young (grades ?)
1949-1950	Hilda Johanna Arnason (grades 1-2), Ella Aubrey Brown (grades 3-4), Gwendoline Nettie May Corbett (? grades), Ruth Elizabeth Galbraith (grades 4-6), Lewis Erwin Gendron (grades 7-9), Miss G. Parker (grades ?, at Roblin Park)
1950-1951	Hilda Johanna Arnason (grades 1-2), Ella Audrey Brown (grades 3-4), Mrs. S. Margaret Cantelon (grades 1-2), Ruth Elizabeth Galbraith (grades 5-6), Benjamin Franklin Olson (grades 7-9)
1951-1952	Hilda Johanna Arnason (grades 1-2, 1951), Ella Audrey Brown (grades 3-4), Ruth Elizabeth Galbraith (grades 4-5), Benjamin Franklin Olson (grades 6-8), Jennie Elizabeth Tait (grades 1-2)
1952-1953	Ella Audrey Brown (grades 3-4), Clara Louise Dee (grades 5-6, 1952), Irvin Labovitch (grades 5-6, 1953), Alice Marie Rousseau (grades 7-8), Jennie Elizabeth Tait (grades 1-2)
1953-1954	Ella Audrey Brown (grades 2-3), E. Dugard (grades 4-5, 1953 substitute), Miss N. Kassian (grades 4-5, 1953), Irvin Labovitch (grades 6-7), Jennie Elizabeth Tait (grades 1-2), Nan E.Yurkiw (grades 4-5, 1954)
1954-1955	Ella Audrey Brown (grades 2-3), Irvin Labovitch (grades 6-7), Lillian Eva Elizabeth Robertson (grades 4-5), Jennie Elizabeth Tait (grades 1-2)
1955-1956	Ella Audrey Brown (grades 2-3), Joan Alice Butler (grades 3-4), Beatrice Arnetta Connon (grade 1), Lillian Eva Elizabeth Robertson (grades 5-6)

Photos & Coordinates

The second Charleswood School building, known as the “Old Red Brick School,” in which the Charleswood municipal office was situated (1914) Source: Len Van Roon The second Charleswood School (February 1933) Source: Archives of Manitoba, George Harris Fonds, Acc. 1979-141, P7447, Album 4, Page 2. The second Charleswood School building shortly before demolition (1969) Source: Planning, Property & Development, City of Winnipeg , #4536 The second Charleswood School building being demolished (1969) Source: Len Van Roon Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.86164, W97.30104 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“News from the suburbs - Charleswood,” Winnipeg Tribune, 22 August 1921, page 9.

“News from the suburbs - Charleswood [The high school opened in Charleswood ...],” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 August 1923, page 5.

“Meeting demands Board re-instate fired teachers,” Winnipeg Tribune, 25 May 1949, page 9.

“Board to probe teacher status,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 May 1949, page 17.

“Should girls wear slacks?” Winnipeg Tribune, 15 June 1949, page 1.

“Centre of slacks-in-school fight, girl defends “comfortable attire”,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 June 1949, page 7.

“Charleswood children back to school Monday,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 August 1949, page 3.

“Charleswood lists teachers,” Winnipeg Free Press, 6 September 1954, page 3.

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.

Photos & Fragments of Charleswood History: A Collection of Historic Photographs of our Community and the Stories They Tell by Len Van Roon & Verna Van Roon, 2003, pages 67-71.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Charleswood School District No. 826 [School Division No. 3] - Daily Registers, GR10356, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Charleswood Consolidated School District No. 2327 (School Division No. 3) - Daily Registers, GR10356, Archives of Manitoba.

We thank Len Van Roon and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 19 August 2021

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