The Gascon School District was established in 1899, named in commemoration of cleric Zephirin Gascon who came to the community of St. Laurent in 1860. A one-room schoolhouse operated at SW22-19-5W in the Rural Municipality of Coldwell. A teacherage was built in 1921.
On 14 January 1955, the original school building was destroyed by a fire caused by faulty electrical wiring. It was replaced later that year. It became part of the White Horse Plain School Division in 1959 and, in 1967, the building was moved to Oak Point and students were bused there.
Among the teachers who worked at Gascon School through the years were Nora Zotyna, C. M. Jeffery, E. McDougall, Frank S. Hesler, George Ousinger, Ethel Bird, Ferdinand Merner, S. A. Amyot, Isabelle C. Dow, James S. Douglas, Adele F. Flamond, Mamie Conrad, Roland Lauzee, Sadie Hackland, Elizabeth Bennett, Juliette Lussier, Evelyn Dufault, Jeanne Guilbert, Jennie Daien, Bertha Guilbert, Rose Dauphinais, Jeanette Lautlier, Catherine Flett, R. Janisch, L. J. Matte, Theresa Connelly, Frances Fidler, Geraldine Phippen, and Elma Palterson.
Gascon School (no date) by M. Hall-Jones
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 37.
Gascon School teacherage (no date) by M. Hall-Jones
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 37.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.53579, W98.01512
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Zephirin Gascon (1826-1914)
Lundar topographic map, 62J/9, Edition 1, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].
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.
Wagons to Wings: History of Lundar and Districts, 1872-1980 compiled by Lundar and District Historical Society, 1980.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 7 December 2021
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