When Empire School District No. 216 was formally organized in December 1883, in the Rural Municipality of Minto, it was apparently known as Holland School, though another school with the same name was situated in the village of Holland. The name was changed in 1903, and it operated as Empire School until closing in January 1968. The original schoolhouse, built in 1884 at NE22-16-17W, was replaced by one at this site, at NW23-16-17W, in 1903. The school building is now gone, replaced by a monument dedicated to the pioneer families, teachers, and pupils of the area. Next to the monument is a plaque, erected in 2000 by the Bethany District Homecoming Committee, that commemorates Murchison Church. It operated at a site about a half mile south of here, at SW23-16-17 on land donated by Robert Carter, from 1890 to 1961.
Among the teachers of Holland School were Tom Logan (1885), Mr. Baker (1886), Miss Hilton (1898), Miss Violet Browne (1899), and Miss Drummond (1900).
Holland/Empire School commemorative monument and Murchison Church plaque (August 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.38764, W99.72297
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Holland Consolidated School No. 390 (Holland, RM of Victoria)
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.
Forest to Field: Centennial History of Rural Municipality of Clanwilliam and Village of Erickson, Manitoba, Canada by Clanwilliam History Book Committee, 1984, pages 123-124.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 January 2020
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