Historic Sites of Manitoba: East Poplar Point School No. 15 (Poplar Point, RM of Portage la Prairie)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The first school in the Poplar Point area was a one-room schoolhouse built around 1873 on River Lot 81 of the Parish of Poplar Point, situated about one-quarter mile north of the former Edmonton Trail, now Highway #26 in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie. It burned down in 1912 and was rebuilt later that year. In 1918, the school was moved to the nearby village of Poplar Point where it remained until the building was replaced in early 1955. The present four-classroom school closed around 2001.

Principals

Period

Principal

1926-1928

Orville Ernest Holmes (1905-1987)

1928-1929

Mr. M. L. Berlyn

1929-1930

Allan Shafer Bowman (1906-1941)

1930-1939

Clarence David “Casey” Voigt (1903-1988)

1939-1942

John Elwin Laird (1876-1950)

1942-1943

John Parsons (?-?)

1943-1944

Robert Cameron Mulligan (1889-1976)

1944-1949

Jane Agnes Nisbet (1902-1959)

1949-1951

Lillian Elizabeth Barker (1920-2005)

1951-1953

S. Sigurdson

1953-1955

D. S. MacDonald

1955-1956

George Wesley Denstedt (1896-1979)

1956-1959

Dennis David Clym (c1930-1984)

1959-1960

C. M. Thompson

1960-1961

Mrs. P. M. Edmondson

Teachers

Other teachers who worked at East Poplar Point School included Elizabeth Beckett Scott (1884-1885), Herbert T. McKinstry, Christopher Roscoe Brown, Mr. W. G. Sanburn, Mr. Robinson, Miss Harvey, Mr. J. Bannerman, Miss McCorrister, Miss C. Christie, Miss Tidsbury, Mrs. Mountain, Miss Totton, Miss McAllister, Miss Armstrong, Miss Berryhill, Miss McCaw, Miss Gahan, Miss Vanstone, Mr. Bathgate, Mrs. Coates, Miss Campbell, Miss Frayme, Miss Thomas, Miss McIntosh, Miss Pollock, Mr. F. Cavers, Mr. C. Voigt, Miss G. Gowler, Mr. R. Bend, Miss O. Bend, Mr. Parsons, Miss H. Garland, Miss G. Wheatley, Miss M. Wilton, Mr. E. Calverley, Miss M. Powell, Miss E. McKinstry, Miss L. Grogan, Miss I. McKay, Miss K. Shorthose, Miss G. Freedy, Miss G. Thompson, Miss M. Bruce, Mr. J. Bock, Mr. Denstead, Mr. Stasiuk, Mr. McDonald, Mr. R. Thiessen, Miss Zellers, Miss Friesen, Mr. M. Boychuk, Miss P. Caldwell, Miss S. Larcombe, Miss Elaschuk, Miss V. Sinclair, Mr. Z. Matiation, Miss F. Bosinski, Miss G. Klassen, Miss L. Perret, Mrs. Rintoul, Mr. and Mrs. Buschau, Miss B. Crewson, and Miss G. Borthistle.

Photos & Coordinates

The East Poplar Point School, demolished around 1955

The East Poplar Point School, demolished around 1955 (no date) by A. B. Fallis
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 9.

The former East Poplar Point School building

The former East Poplar Point School building (August 2014)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.05698, W97.97569
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“New Poplar Point School ‘follows modern thinking,’” Manitoba Leader, 24 February 1955, page 7.

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.

Rural Schools of Portage la Prairie School Division #24 by Muriel Wright, 1996.

We thank Nathan Kramer and George Stewart for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 1 April 2020

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