Historic Sites of Manitoba: Grainfields School No. 2186 (Municipality of Roblin)

Incorrectly identified in some sources as Greenfields School, the Grainfields School District was organized formally in August 1928. Following a district residents meeting at the home of W. Bauer, property was purchased at the southwest quarter of 24-25-28 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Roblin. In 1929, a schoolhouse was built and furnished at a cost of $3,500. During the summer of 1941, $1,500 was sought to build a teacherage, though it remains unknown if it was built. The school operated independently until becoming part of the Intermountain School Division in 1959. Classes continued here until around 1967 when the remaining students were transferred to Goose Lake Consolidated School No. 1283. The former school building still stands at the site, surrounded on all sides by dense growth of caragana bushes.

Among the teachers who worked at Grainfields School were Lorne Wardell Merrett (1929-1930), Donald Clifford Clark (1930-1931), Doris Jean Tuells? (1931-1932), Anna Mary Graham (1932-1934), Martin Gustav Ludwig Ruccins (1934-1936), Georgina Mary Tarrant (1936-1939), Michael John “Mike” Mazur (1939-1941), Margaret Cameron (1941-1942), Muriel Winifred Waters (1942-1943), Martha Elizabeth Lesack (1943-1944), Helen Isabelle Warbeck (1944-1946), Gertrude Andres (1946), Bohdan Danylchuk (1946-1947), Anne Ostrowski (1947-1948), Gloria D. Kuhn (1948-1949), Ethel Elizabeth Gallaway (1949-1950), Joyce Beatrice Eslinger (1950-1951), Ruby Winnifred Kolstad (1951-1952), Katherine J. Burelle (1952-1954), Joyce Mary Laird (1954-1955), Gladys Adelia Lent (1955-1956), ? (1956-1958), Virginia Chick (1958-1959), Wilma Eileen Channon (1959-1961), Robert J. Betz (1961-1962), Blenchard Osika (1962-1963), and Margaret Annie Kendrick (1963-1966).

Grainfields School (1930) by H. L. Albright Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 109. Grainfields School (no date) Source: Manitoba Historic Resources Branch 2186, HRR4516. Former Grainfields School building, now closely encroached on all sides by bushes (August 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Aerial view of former Grainfields School building and its dense shelterbelt (June 2018) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N51.16946, W101.28059 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba

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.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), No. 31 - School District of Grainfields, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Grainfields School District No. 2186, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.

School division borrowing files (MA 0038), Grainfields School District No. 2186, GR1798, Archives of Manitoba.

Shell River Municipality Century One, 1884-1984: Memories of Roblin and Rural Districts by Roblin History Book Committee, 1986, page 267.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 12 February 2021

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