Historic Sites of Manitoba: Griswold School No. 425 (Griswold, RM of Sifton)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

Griswold School District was formally established in September 1885, in Griswold in the Rural Municipality of Sifton. The present brick building dates from 1897, built of a design by Brandon architect W. H. Shillinglaw. In 1959, grades 5-8 of the three-room school were transferred to Oak Lake’s Assiniboine School. It operated as a two-room school until 1968. From 1973 to 1976, the facility hosted only grades 1 to 3 and a private kindergarten class prior to the Fort la Bosse School Division offering the kindergarten option at Assiniboine School. The school closed its doors following the 1975-1976 school year. The building was renovated for use as a community hall. A minute book for the school district, from 1907 to 1943, is held at the S. J. McKee Archives of Brandon University.

Principals

Period

Principal

c1894-1899

Allan Bowerman (1844-1923)

1899-1901

George P. Bawden

1901-1903

Alfred White (1869-1955)

1903-1904

W. A. Beynon

1904-1907

Charles T. Cresswell (1872-1961)

1907-1908

James Erron Stanley Dunlop (1882-1945)

1908-1909

Maggie R. Stewart

1909-1910

John Stanley Hollies (1889-1916)

1910-1912

?

1912-1914

Florence Carnduff

1914-1923

Sidney Irvine “Sears” Mott (1870-1957)

1923-1926

Daniel Frederick “Fred” McNeill (1878-1956)

1926-1928

Samuel Stewart Bryan (1889-?)

1928-1929

Walter Fahrig (1889-1937)

1929-1941

John Clarence “Kelly” Williamson (1903-1981)

1941-1951

John Henry Doughty (1900-1958)

1951-1952

?

1952-1954

Michael John Makowski (1924-2002)

1954-1958

J. A. Sawatsky

1958-1959

S. Livingston

Teachers

School Year

Teachers

1920-1921

M. Thomson

Among the other teachers of Griswold School were William John McComb (1887), Frederick Leopold Johnston, Mary Isbister Wilson, Reba Wallace McManes, Fanny Hitchcock Hollies, and Lillian Hatch Brownlee.

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of Griswold School

Postcard view of Griswold School (circa 1910)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2013-0031

The former Griswold School building

The former Griswold School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1243.

The former Griswold School building

The former Griswold School building (September 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.77778, W100.47160
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“The Indian famine fund,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 March 1897, page 4.

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

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“Griswold grads hold reunion,” Brandon Sun, 1 September 1976, page 31.

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.

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.

We thank Andrew Cunningham, Nathan Kramer, and Fred McNeill for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 3 June 2024

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