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Opened on 19 September 1910 on two acres of land on the north side of Kildonan Avenue (now Kingsbury Avenue), west of the CPR tracks, John H. Gunn School was named for municipal official John H. Gunn. Initially a one-classroom, wood frame structure, in 1912 a second classroom was added with a hallway between them where overflow classes were sometimes held. The school closed in June 1935 and, two years later, the building was sold to a W. Weller for use as a mill. There is no vestige of the building at the site, which now supports residential development. On a road boulevard near the former school is an elm tree, named the “John H. Gunn School Elm,” that was planted by the school on Arbor Day in 1925. A nearby plaque was installed in 1985 by the Subcommittee on Parks and Boulevards. It was missing at the time of a 2014 site visit but was replaced in 2017.
Period
Principal
1910-1911
May Victoria Wright (1889-1978)
1911-1913
Steinunn Jonasina Stefanson “Steina” Sommerville (1885-1963)
1913-1917
?
1917
Solomon Abraham (1872-1942)
1918-1919
Ethel Smith
1919-1928
Albert Edward Buttress (1861-1931)
1928-1929
Eldon Franklin Simms (1907-1964)
1929-1930
Petter Martin Juul (?-?)
1930
John Peter Sigvaldason (1904-1986)
1930-1931
Arthur Harold Lawson (1907-1964)
1931-1935
Thomas Alexander Hill (1908-1991)
Among the other teachers of John H. Gunn School were Miss Frances Porter (1912-1913), Miss Gudrun S. Olson (1912-1913), Miss Kellington (1913-1914), Miss Lough (1913), Miss Aleta Finch (1913-1914), Margaret C. Morrison (1915), Lily Paterson (1915), Elsie E. Cowie (1916), Nellie I. Rundle (1916), S. Abraham (1917), H. S. Lauer (1917), Frances Cheshire (1918), Muriel G. Learned (1918), May L. McEwen (1919), Mildred Scott (1919), Sophie Bernstein (1920-1921), Clara Cohen (1922), Hattie Victoria Lyons (1923-1924, daughter of R. N. Lyons), Vera Bregman (1925-1926), and Miss Blanche Charlotte Emes (1927-1928).
John H. Gunn School (1910)
Source: A Historical Study of Public Education in West Kildonan to 1959 by R. R. Bailey, 1966, Collection of Mr. A. Blatta.
Commemorative plaque near the former site of John H. Gunn School, beside an elm tree planted by students on Arbor Day in the mid 1920s
Source: Nathan Kramer
Commemorative plaque for John H. Gunn School (no date)
Source: City of Winnipeg
Commemorative plaque for John H. Gunn School (May 2018)
Source: Ostap SkrypnykSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.94516, W97.13267
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: John Hugh “Java” Gunn (1848-1933)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: John W. Gunn School (351 Harold Avenue West, Winnipeg)
“Pupils write well,” Manitoba Free Press, 28 June 1912, page 11.
“New schools for West Kildonan,” Manitoba Free Press, 4 November 1912, page 14.
Henderson’s Winnipeg Directories, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Municipality of West Kildonan Council History, 1930-1939.
“Miscellaneous property,” Winnipeg Free Press, 16 May 1936, page 36.
A Historical Study of Public Education in West Kildonan to 1959 by Raymond Ronald Bailey, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, 1966.
Heritage Trees of Manitoba by the Manitoba Forestry Association, 1987. [Legislative Library of Manitoba, QK 486.M3 HIL]
“Plant tree for arbor day,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly, North Edition, 1 May 1988, page 5.
Board of Trustee Minutes, Seven Oaks School Division, 30 April 2012, page 107M.
Municipality of West Kildonan Council History 1930-1939 by Jim Smith.
West Kildonan-Lord Selkirk Community Committee Minutes Relating to West Kildonan and Old Kildonan 1977 by Jim Smith.
We thank Murray Peterson (City of Winnipeg) and Ostap Skrypnyk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 August 2020
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