Historic Sites of Manitoba: Howard School No. 218 (Municipality of Cartwright-Roblin)

The Howard School District was established formally in April 1884, named for local farmer Thomas Howard. A one-room school building was erected in 1885 on the northwest quarter of 2-2-14 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Cartwright-Roblin. It closed in November 1959. The school building was sold to a local farmer and moved away. A metal sign commemorates it.

Some of the teachers who worked at Howard School included the following: Miss Kate Race (1886), J. W. Daly (1887), J. S. McKay (1888), Miss Abbie Howard (1892), Prescott Smith (1896-1897), Miss Mina Henderson (1905), Miss Tena Coulthard (1912), Jean M. Cowell (1924-1925), Elsie Skelton (1925-1927), F. Selley (1927-1928), Dora Vincent (1928-1929), Lottie McDonald (1930-1932), Winnifred McMillan (1933-1937), Marie Martin (1937-1938), E. B. Moreland (1938-1939), Hilda Michelmore (1939-1940), G. Arthur (1942), Jean Lochhead (1942-1944), Marie Larose (1944-1945), Dorothy Milliken (1945-1946), Alice Tryhuk (1946-1947), N. Dudgeon (1947-1948), Eleanor Rankin (1949-1950), Enid Cobbledick (1950-1951), Ruth Fairservice (1951-1952), Gwen McLean (1952-1953), Anne Didkowski (1952-1953), Elaine Dagg (1954-1955), Mrs. Empey (1955-1956), Norma Daly (1955-1956), Dorothy Gibson (1955-1956), and James Retvick (1955-1956).

Howard School (no date) by W. J. Parr Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 75. The former Howard School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1114. Howard School commemorative monument (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.09702, W99.25715 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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

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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 11 February 2021

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