The Culross School District was established in September 1882 in what is now the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead. The first schoolhouse, a wood frame structure, was constructed on the northeast corner of NE16-18-24W. In 1908, it was replaced at the same site by a new, one-room school constructed of concrete blocks, and the original building was moved to Vista where it was used as a horse stable.
The school closed in 1959 and the remaining students went to one of several nearby schools: Shoal Lake Consolidated School No. 2352, Rossburn Consolidated School No. 2358, Oakburn Consolidated School No. 255, and Islay School No. 733. Its area became part of the Pelly Trail School Division. The school building was demolished but a plaque commemorates it.
Among the teachers who worked at Culross School through the years were Miss Clara Hamilton (1892), Ruth Ardell Bradley (?-?), and M. Steve Gerelus (1950-1951).
Culross School (no date) by G. W. Bartlett
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 65.
Culross School commemorative plaque (October 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.55003, W100.71795
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Castleton School No. 976 (Culross, RM of Grey)
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.
The Way It Was! by Matthew Halliday, Dauphin, 1982. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.S46 Hal]
Ripples On The Lake: A History of Shoal Lake Municipality, 1884-1984 by Shoal Lake History Book Committee, 1984.
We thank Malcolm Bell and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 February 2020
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