Historic Sites of Manitoba: Chicken Hill School No. 581 (Municipality of Pembina)

The Chicken Hill School District was established formally in May 1889 and a building was erected in the southwest quarter of 11-1-7 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of Pembina. It closed in July 1965 and the remaining students went to Point Douglas Consolidated School No. 1475. The school building has been used to store grain and pesticide containers, and is now badly deteriorated.

Among the teachers at Chicken Hill School were Susan Johnston, S. E. Wallace, E. A. Carter, Margaret Moffatt, Emma Higgins, George Lamb, Violet Argue, Rosa Johnson, Miss Clench, Vera Meilicke, Frank Morrison, Alma Smith, Tina Goertzen, Florence Jaeger, Margaret Harder, Ernie Klassen, John Vanderstoel, Lily Robinson, Annie Gunness, John Houston, Annie Johnston, Vera Fox, Christina Allan, Marian Hurst, Natalie Newcomb, Beryl Forrest, Vivian Durden, J. A. F. Hill, Lydia Steeves, Mrs. Thomson, Annie Kehler, Andrew Brown, Margaret Wiebe, Mary Georzen, Barbara Loree, Mrs. H. Dobbin, Lena Doney, John Black, Roland North, Thomas Mawhinney, Minnie Finley, Margaret Marshall, Anna Bruce, Mrs. Ardington, Edith Miller (two years), Margaret Todd, Louise Kristjanson, Mary Hammond, Martha Treichel, Sadie Hoeppner, Annie Kehler, Lila Garrett, and Lois McNaughton.

Chicken Hill School (no date) by G. G. Neufeld Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 91. The former Chicken Hill School (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 989. The former Chicken Hill School building and commemorative sign (April 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former Chicken Hill School building (July 2018) Source: M. Greene Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.01536, W98.30566 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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

The Darlingford Saga II: 1870-1970, 1970-1999 by the Darlingford Centennial Book Committee, 1999, page 149.

We thank Rose Kuzina and M. Greene for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 February 2023

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