The Grassy River School District was established formally in May 1902 and it operated a school on the northeast quarter of 6-18-11 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne. The school closed in 1967 and the district was dissolved the following year. The former school building, not the original one at the site, was later turned into a granary that still stands as of 2012. The school is commemorated by a monument in Glenella.
Among the teachers of Grassy River School were Mr. Paling (1904), Roland Jickling (1905), Mary S. Thompson (1905-1906), Samuel Whitehouse (1906-1907, 1908-1911), Harmon Elmer Sweet (1907, 1908), John W. McKenzie (1908), Allan Gregory (1911), Viola Beckstead (1912), Margaret A. Dixon (1912-1914), Anna Westman (1914), J. W. Neale (1915), W. A. Dylceman (1915), Violet McGonigal (1916-1917), Bertha Breckman (1918-1919), Elizabeth O’Donnell (1919-1920), Eva B. Hoff (1920), Helen Winston (1921-1922), George L. Ross (1922-1923), R. N. Henderson (1923), Myrtle Shuttleworth (1924), Julia Johnson (1924-1925), Gertrude Jean Harcus (1925-1926), Ruth B. Mitchell (1926-1927), Margaret De Yong (1927-1928), Betty E. Le Page (1928-1929), Margaret Galbraith (1929-1930), Elnora Marjorie Wachter (1930-1932), Ann Gertrude Kitteringham (1932-1934), Mrs. William Hill (1934-1936), Bessie Layng (1936-1937), Eileen Howe (1937-1938), Lillias Stewart (1938-1940), Lillian Thurley (1940-1941), Miss Storey (1942), Irene Fehr (1943), Mrs. Collier (1944-1945), Mrs. Myrtle Mundy (1945-1946), Grace Armstrong (1946-1947), Iona Post (1947-1948), Josephine Melanchuk (1948-1949), Marie Yorkevich (1949-1950), Nancy Newman (1950-1951), Rosalind Nabe (1951-1952), Ralph Friesen (1952-1953), Art Pulak (1953-1954), Joyce Smith (1954-1955), Rosemary Fehr (1955-1956), Augusta Hoehn (1956-1958), Mavis Eslinger (1958-1959), Ed Fast (1959-1960), and Anne Hoehn (1960-1966).
Grassy River School (no date) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 89.
The former Grassy River School building (circa 1990)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 444.
The former Grassy River School building (August 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.51378, W98.96246
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
Tracks of Time: Glenella and Districts by Glenella History Committee, 1990, pages 119-120. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.G65 Tra]
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
We thank Nancy Newman Zielke for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 August 2023
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