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The St. Charles District was established formally in August 1894, and a wood frame school operated on lots 59 and 60 within the Parish of St. Charles on land donated by local resident Patrick “Pat” Beauchemin (1871-1941), in what would later become the Municipality of Charleswood, now a suburb of Winnipeg. Classroom instruction began that Fall and was overseen by a single teacher.
In 1914, the original schoolhouse was replaced at the site by a two-storey, red brick building designed by Winnipeg architect Eldred Dodsworth Tuttle. Formally named Beauchemin School, it was also known as the “Old Red Brick School” by district residents prior to being renamed several years later.
In the latter half of 1918, the district was renamed the Charleswood School District, in keeping with efforts of the Department of Education to reduce the potentially confusing variation of school district names and unify them with that of the respective local communities. The districts original name would soon be reused with the opening of the St. Charles School District No. 2071 in 1921. 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.
The district opened a second school, Roblin Park School, in 1948. In 1951, it became Charleswood Consolidated School No. 2327, 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.
Period
Principal
1914-1915
Marie Carmelie Armandine Desautels Laflamme (1891-1971)
1915-1917
Laura Vivian Asselstine Singleton (1888-1968)
1917-1918
Margaret Anne Harper (1867-1947)
1918-1922
Albina Marie Bleau (1897-1982)
1923
M. E. Walls
1923-1928
George Morgan Wade (1894-1984)
1928-1944
Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (1899-1990)
1944-1945
Mae Eileen Smith
1945-1946
Henry Joseph Grenon (1881-1981)
1946-1947
Vitaline Yvonne Gauthier
1947-1949
George Lecoq (1905-2000)
1949-1950
Louis Erwin “Lewis” Gendron (1896-1973)
1950-1952
Benjamin Franklin Olson (1898-1981)
1952-1953
Alice Marie Rousseau (1918-1983)
1953-1954
Ernest Friesen Reimer (1909-1999)
1954-1955
Irvin Labovitch
1955-1956
Lillian Eva Elizabeth Robertson
Among the early teachers of St. Charles School were Marie Desgagner (Fall 1894 - Spring 1895), ? (Fall 1895 - Fall 1896), M. Louise Caron (Spring 1898 - Spring 1900), Ad. Manseau (Fall 1900 - Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Spring 1904), Mr. Collins (Fall 1904), Josephine Paradis (Spring 1905), Rose A. Perras (Fall 1905 - Spring 1906), Cecile Paille (Fall 1906 - Spring 1908), Leda A. Benoit (Fall 1908), Caroline Boiteau (Spring 1909 - Spring 1910), and Berthe Benjamin (Fall 1910 - Spring 1911).
School Year
Teachers
1911-1912
Berthe Benjamin (Fall), Berthe Caron (Spring), Eva Langevin
1912-1913
Berthe Benjamin (Fall), Eva Langevin
1913-1914
N. Valentine Desautels
1914-1915
Armandine Desautels, N. Valentine Desautels
1915-1916
N. Valentine Desautels (grades 1-3), Laura Vivian Singleton (grades 4-8)
1916-1917
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 1-4), Laura Vivian Singleton (grades 5-9)
1917-1918
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 1-4), Margaret Harper (grades 5-10)
1918-1919
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 4-10), Mona Brown (grades 1-3)
1919-1920
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 4-9), Mona Brown (grades 1-3)
1920-1921
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 4-8), Mona Brown (grades 1-3)
1921-1922
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 4-9), Mona Brown (grades 1-3)
1922-1923
Albina Marie Bleau (grades 4-9, Fall), Mona Brown (grades 1-3), M. E. Walls (grades 5-8, Spring)
1923-1924
Maud Palmer Hall (grades 5-8), Nita McArthur (grades 1-4), George Morgan Wade (grades 9-11)
1924-1925
Mrs. Booth (grades 5-8, September-October), Elsie E. Cameron (grades 5-8, October-December), Miss Kilpatrick (grades 5-8, October), Nita McArthur (grades 1-4), George Morgan Wade (grades 9-11)
1925-1926
Elsie E. Cameron (grades 5-8), Jean H. Dunlop (grades 1-4, ?-June), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4, September-December & January-?), George Morgan Wade (grades 9-11, September-December; grades 9-10, January-June)
1926-1927
Elsie E. Cameron (grades 5-8), Jean H. Dunlop (grades 1-4), George Morgan Wade (grades 8-10)
1927-1928
Elsie E. Cameron (grades 5-8), Jean H. Dunlop (grades 1-4), George Morgan Wade (grades 9-11)
1928-1929
Lillian Kathleen Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1929-1930
Lillian Kathleen Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1930-1931
Irma Marguerite Preston (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1931-1932
Irma Marguerite Preston (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1932-1933
Irma Marguerite Preston (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1933-1934
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1934-1935
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1935-1936
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1936-1937
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1937-1938
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4)
1938-1939
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), I. Margaret E. Kelly (grades 1-4, pt Spring), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Eleanor Marie Vosper (grades 1-4, Fall - pt Spring)
1939-1940
Dorothy Hazel Betsworth (grades 5-8), Nena [Nina?] Agnes Halloway (grades 1-4), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1940-1941
Nena [Nina?] Agnes Halloway (grades 1-4), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Minerva Caroline Stevin? (grades 5-8)
1941-1942
Nena [Nina?] Agnes Halloway (grades 1-4, Fall), Gertrude Maude Kendrick (grades 1-4, Spring), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Minerva Caroline Stevin? (grades 5-8)
1942-1943
Ethel Catherine Edwards (grades 5-8), Gertrude Maude Kendrick (grades 1-4), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11)
1943-1944
Christina Fraser (grades 1-4), Kristjan Bergthor Sigurdsson (grades 9-11), Mae Eileen Smith (grades 5-8)
1944-1945
Christina Fraser (grades 1-3), Mabel Laura Magnusson (grades 4-6), Mae Eileen Smith (grades 7-9)
1945-1946
Henry Joseph Grenon (grades 7-9), Mabel Laura Magnusson (grades 3-5), Mae Eileen Smith (grades 1-2)
1946-1947
Hilda Johanna Arnason (grade 1), Vitaline Yvonne Gauthier (grades 7-9), Mabel Laura Magnusson (grades 4-6), Dorothy Mary Sheldrake (grades 2-3)
1947-1948
Hilda Johanna Arnason (grades 1-2), I. Margaret E. Kelly (grades 3-4), George Lecoq (grades 7-9), Dorothy Mary Sheldrake (grades 4-6)
1948-1949
Hilda Johanna Arnason (grades 1-2), Jeanette Y. Defresne (grades 3-4), George Lecoq (grades 7-9), Dorothy Mary Sheldrake (grades 4-6)
1949-1950
Hilda Johanna Arnason (grades 1-2), Ella Aubrey Brown (grades 3-4, January-June), Gwendoline Nettie May Corbett (grades 3-4, September-December), Ruth Elizabeth Galbraith (grades 4-6), Lewis Erwin Gendron (grades 7-9)
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)
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 RoonSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.86164, W97.30104
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Charles Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery (320 St. Charles Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Charles School No. 2071 (77 Dandurand Avenue, Winnipeg)
“School openings,” Manitoba Free Press, 17 August 1904, page 5.
“Appointed Chairman,” Manitoba Free Press, 18 July 1916, page 2.
“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.
Obituary [Patrick Beauchemin], Winnipeg Tribune 10 December 1941, page 18.
“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.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
School division and school district formation files (E 0027), St. Charles School District No. 826, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
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 for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 15 June 2024
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