Historic Sites of Manitoba: Deerwood School No. 926 (Deerwood, RM of Thompson)

The Deerwood School District was established formally in September 1897 and a one-room wood frame schoolhouse was later erected on the southwest corner of 20-5-7W in the Rural Municipality of Thompson. It was eventually replaced by a structure that operated until January 1959 when it closed. The remaining students went to Altamont Consolidated School No. 115. A commemorative marker for the former school commemorates it.

Among the teachers who worked at Deerwood School were George Shea (1898), Robert McClelland (1899), Allie M. Stevenson (1900, 1902), J. V. Fraser (1901), Nellie Young (1902), Ezra Moodie (1903), Zella Collins (1903), Ed S. Munro (1904), Nellie Duncan (1904), Jessie McDonald (1905), Nellie Croseley (1906), Alice Brownlow (1906-1908, 1911), M. S. Guthrie (1908-1909), Edna H. Fields (1909-1910), Florence L. Fairley (1912-1913), Emma Hickey (1914), Gladys Berry (1915-1916), S. J. Binning (1916), Beula M. Swain (1917), Hazel I. Miner (1918-1919), N. Gowanlock (1919-1920), Susie McDowell (1920-1921), Edith Snider (1921-1923), Mary Armitage (1923), H. B. Edwards (1924), John Peter Sigvaldason (1924), William Schultz (1925), Miss Jessie Margaret Laing (1925-1926), Miss Edith May Gillespie (1926-1927), Jessie McGregor (1927-1929), Elva Storey (1929-1930), Lillian Hoover (1930-1932), James Alexander Fraser (1932-1933), Frank Morrison (1934-1935), S. A. Morris (1937), Nellie Roth (1937-1938), Miss Perry (1938-1940), Miss Richmond (1940-1941), G. M. Peterson (1941-1942), Miss Gray (1942), Audrey Lowrey (1943), Thomas Connolly (1943-1944), Enid Havard (1944-1945), M. Hodgson (1945-1947), Ruth Kennedy (1947-1949), Lessie Sawchuk (1949), Janet Homick (1949-1950), and Mrs. Roby (1950-1951).

Deerwood School (no date) by A. J. Manning Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 24. Deerwood School monument with the former community hall in the background (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former Deerwood Community Hall (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site of the former Deerwood School building (July 2016) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site of the former Deerwood School building (September 2023) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.39933, W98.38493 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.

Miami & R. M. of Thompson Chronicles by Thompson History Book Committee, c1998. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.M50Mia]

We thank Ina Bramadat, Nathan Kramer, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 12 November 2023

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