Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gorrie School No. 365 (RM of Cornwallis)

The Gorrie School District was established in January 1885 and a wood frame, one-room schoolhouse was constructed at NE5-10-18W in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis. In 1908, a new, larger school building was constructed across the road, on a triangular property at SE8-10-18W. The brick veneer structure measured 20 feet by 30 feet and featured a full basement and a furnace fueled by coal and wood. A 12x20 foot addition to the north side was made in 1960, for a study room and library. The school closed in June 1967 and the district was dissolved later that year, its area becoming part of the Brandon School Division. The former school building was sold and renovated into a private residence. The above-ground part was later demolished but the basement was used as a barn. Bricks from the building were used to construct a fireplace in a two-storey home that replaced it at the site.

The teachers at Gorrie School were Caleb Braithwaite (1885), Lizzie A. Douglas (1886), Alex B. Stewart (1887), Katie Coxe (1886, 1892-1893), Thomas S. F. Taylor (1889, 1902), John A. Taylor (1890-1891), George Wesley Thomas Leech (1894-1895), Ernest Tennyson Leech (1897), Miss Gillander (1898, 1904), Miss L. Currie (1899-1900), L. B. Patterson (1901), Miss Donkin (1901), Miss M. A. B. Kyle (1903-1904), Alma G. Lyons (1905), Miss K. R. Morrison (1906), Miss Lulu Gorrie (1906), Miss Edith Fraser (1907), Miss Rea (1908), Miss E. E. Short (1908-1911), Miss Milburn (1911-1912), Fanny A. Hitchcock (1913), Mrs. Georgina Davison (1913), Miss Swinson (1914-1915), Miss Stevenson (1915), Miss Winnifred B. Shoupe (1916-1917), Miss Tanner (1917), Miss Christena Bergson (1918-1919), Miss B. Wiggins (1919-1920), Miss Bessie Charleson (1921), Miss Insley (1922), Miss Kerr (1923), Miss M. F. Smith (1923), Miss Christina McLachlan (1924), Miss Alice M. Taylor (1925-1926), Miss Dawson (1927), Miss Bentina Erlendson (1928), Miss Lillian Pickersgill (1929), Miss Alexandrina Murchie (1930), Miss Eleanor B. Montgomery (1931-1932), Miss Lucy E. Snart (1933-1936), Archibald George Hickling (1937-1940), Miss Doris M. Pue (1941), Beryl A. Robinson (1942), Miss Margaret Lillian Porter (1943), Miss Dorothy Ellen Archibald (1944-1946), Miss Olga Winnifred Tycholis (1947), Miss Julie Sladek (1948), Miss Gladys Margaret Hovey (1949-1950), Miss Marion Myrta McKenzie (1951), Miss A. M. Tivy (1951-1952), Miss M. J. Chapman (1953), Mrs. Lorna M. Williamson (1953-1955), Miss Eileen Edith Curtis (1956-1957), Mrs. Ethel Sexey (1958), Mrs. L. Ruth Sutherland (1958-1959), Mrs. Ruby P. Kennedy (1960), Miss D. Dianne Stuart (1961-1963), Mrs. June Sharon Pedlow (1964), Mrs. Beverly Anne Coates (1965), and Mrs. Jean Margaret Kustra (1966).

An oak honour roll containing the names of twenty-three men, four of whom were killed in the First World War, was unveiled at Gorrie School on 28 July 1919 by Major Charles John Whillier. The location of the honour roll is currently unknown.

The second Gorrie School building (no date) by J. B. Morrison Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 30. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.81334, W99.88185 denoted by symbol on the map above

First World War Casualties

Name	Occupation	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
Clifford Alexander Aberdeen [Brandon Armoury]	Bridge Carpenter	Yukon Motor Machine Gun Battery, Canadian Machine Gun Corps	Private	14 April 1896	4 April 1918
Stanley Durham [Brandon Armoury]	Farmer	27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	12 February 1895	11 June 1916
John Hacking [Brandon Armoury]	Butcher	8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	29 December 1875	14 May 1916
Norman Smith	Farmer	28th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	10 April 1891	6 June 1916

Sources:

Brandon West topographic map, 62G/13 West, Edition 2, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].

“Unveil Honor Roll at Gorrie School,” Brandon Sun, 29 July 1919, page 1.

“Teachers at the convention,” Brandon Sun, 15 October 1920, page 6.

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.

Municipal Memories by Cornwallis Centennial Committee, circa 1984.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Darryl Toews.

Page revised: 3 April 2021

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