The Coldwell School District was established in November 1909, named for provincial education minister George R. Coldwell, and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW29-18-20W in what is now the Municipality of Harrison Park. The school closed at the end of December 1958. In 1960, the district was dissolved and its area was added to the Sandy Lake Consolidated School District. It later became part of the Rolling River School Division. At the time of a May 2014 site visit, the former school building was present at the site, being used for storage, along with its abandoned teacherage and other outbuildings.
The teachers of Coldwell School were V. E. Mironko (1916-1918), J. E. A. Penner (1918-1919), R. G. Pannell (1919-1920), R. S. Evans (1920-1925), J. F. Holmes (1925-1926), L. B. Witherspoon (1926-1927), John S. Dickison (1927-1928), H. F. Hyson (1928-1929), A. B. Cheales (1929-1930), C. Bricker (1930-1933), V. Karpetz (1933-1937), R. Webb (1937-1938), H. Pinuta (1938-1942), Anne Chornmoroz (1942-1943), Cassie K. Pawluk (1943-1944), Marie Zurbuk (1944-1945), P. Pockett (1945-1946), Morris Kowalchuk (1946-1947), Basil Trakalo (1947-1950), Lillian Trakalo (1950-1951), Marian Domanski (1951-1953), J. Meloski (1953-1956), Lesia Kowal (1956-1957), and Lesia Wasylenko (1957-1958).
Students in front of Coldwell School (circa 1946)
Source: Thomas Kowalchuk
The former Coldwell School building (circa 1990)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 533.
The former Coldwell School building (May 2014)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former Coldwell School building (August 2020)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the former Coldwell School building (May 2014)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former Coldwell School teacherage (May 2014)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Coldwell School teacherage (August 2020)
Source: Rose KuzinaSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.56529, W100.20788
denoted by symbol on the map above
Elphinstone East topographic map, 62K/9 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.
A History of Sandy Lake and District, 1984. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.S32 His]
We thank Thomas M. Kowalchuk and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 9 September 2020
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