Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gainsborough School No. 1941 (RM of Portage la Prairie)

Gainsborough School District was organized in September 1918 and a school building was erected in the southwest quarter of 10-11-7 west of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie. The original school building burned in 1930 but was quickly rebuilt. Due to overcrowding, a second room was added to the school in 1939. It was renovated in 1956. The school closed in 1969 and the land was sold to a local community group. A monument erected at the site lists the names of school trustees and teachers.

Among the teachers who worked at Gainsborough School through the years were Miss Roe, Lillian Winton, Jessie Wallace, Anne Foster, Viola Miller, Archie Raeside, Doris Wells, Helen Williams, Rhoda Blair, Christine Martin, Helen Ozarko, Anne Hoyak, Audrey Cameron, Elsie Olinyk, Anne Thiessen, Vivian Cuntz, Harold Griffin, Virginia Honey, Edith Bruce, Joyce Marks, Rita Dow, Gladys Michie, Joseph Minarik, Lena Jackson, Anne Poyser Pallister (1948-1949), D. J. Thompson, Vicki Tyschinski, Ozora Butler, Edith McInnes, Victoria Senuik, Huguette Arbez, Betty Falk, Mabel Walker, T. D. Brownrigg, A. M. Enns, R. J. Skabor, Gloria Rush, Dawn Rutledge, Edith Wright, Rudy Dankesreiter, Dalton Gilbert, Dawn Rudge, Helen Smart, and Helen Karnafel.

The original Gainsborough School, later destroyed by fire (no date) by A. B. Fallis Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 64. The replacement Gainsborough School (no date) by A. B. Fallis Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 64. Gainsborough School commemorative sign (August 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.91566, W98.33110 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.

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

Manitoba Permit Teachers of World War II, compiled by Louisa Loeb, Winnipeg: Hyperion Press Ltd., 2007.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 10 February 2021

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