The Gonta School District was established in February 1910 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW20-31-22W in what is now the Municipality of Ethelbert. In 1950, a new building measuring 30 feet by 70 feet was constructed at a cost of about $4,500. It contained a community hall in the basement and a classroom, washrooms, and teacherage on the main floor.
Among the teachers of Gonta School were Michael Stechyshyn (1911-1912), M. Mihaychuk (1912-1913), J. P. Hawryluk (1913-1914), J. A. Lubiniecki (1914-1915), D. Monastyrsky (1914-1915), Marion Melnyk (1914-1915), D. Kushniruk (1915-1917), Dmetro Hawryluk (1917-1918), Nicholas D. Holubitsky (1918-1919), John H. Hykawy (1919-1921), P. Budzinsky (1921), Margaret Malkovich (1922), Luke J. Syrnyk (1922-1924), Alexander J. Burtnyk (1924-1928), George Hutzal (1925-1926), J. Nazarewich (1925-1926), Felix Sauer (1928-1929), Joseph Pawlowich (1928-1930), Stanley Humeny (1930-1934), Michael Hykawy (1934-1936), Walter Anton Fyk (1936-1937, 1944-1945), Eugene Negrych (1937-1938), Michael Kotyluk (1938-1944), Matilda Ilnisky (1945-1946), Pauline Fedorchuk (1946-1948), Loretta Prokopchuk (1948-1949), Olga Woronchak (1949-1950), Tony Danyluk (1950-1951), Gertrude Schick (1951-1952), Ann Marmach (1952-1953), Doreen Burdeny (1953-1954), Lawrence Rumak (1955-1957), Natalie Pryslazniuk (1957-1958), Alex Fedirchuk (1957-1959), Christine Wolf (1959-1960), and Anne Chubaty (1961-1967).
In 1967, the district was dissolved, its catchment area became part of the Duck Mountain School Division, and students were bussed to Ethelbert School. The school building was sold to a local farmer and moved to his farm. No vestige remained at the time of a 2014 site visit.
The first Gonta School (no date) by J. S. Peach
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 133.
The second Gonta School (circa 1952)
Source: In Memory of our Pioneers: History of Garland and District, 1874-1985 by Garland History Book Committee, 1989, page 146.
Former site of Gonta School (May 2014)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N51.67326, W100.55716
denoted by symbol on the map above
Singush Lake East topographic map, 62N/10 East, Edition 2, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].
In Memory of our Pioneers: History of Garland and District, 1874-1985 by Garland History Book Committee, 1989, pages 145-153.
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.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 26 April 2026
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