Historic Sites of Manitoba: Justice Consolidated School No. 696 (Justice, RM of Elton)

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

The Justice Consolidated School District, centred in the village of Justice in the Rural Municipality of Elton, became one of the first participants in the consolidation movement of the early 20th century. It brought students from several surrounding rural schools, including Aikenside School No. 157, Nelles School No. 696, and Young School No. 352, to a new building (erected in 1912 on a design by Winnipeg architect William Wallace Blair) to one central location. Through the years, as other rural schools closed, it drew students from Campbell School No. 186, Elton School No. 131, Gourlay School No. 695, Matheson School No. 1062, and Orange Hall School No. 1069. Justice School closed in June 1967 and its area became part of the Elton Municipal School District No. 2360.

Principals

Period

Principal

1923-1924

Henrietta Beveridge Herkes (1899-?)

1924-1926

Mary Marguerite Rodger “Marge” Andrews (1901-1955)

1926-1927

Weston Sweet (1899-1994)

1927-1929

Myrtle Christina Evans Witherspoon (1906-1998)

1929-1930

Willa Griggs

1930-1931

Margaret E. Wheaton

1931-1933

Marie Evans

1933-1934

Helen McLennan

1934-1936

James Edwin Scarrow (1902-1982)

1936-1937

Monica Anderson

1937-1938

Charlotte Finlay

1938-1939

John Archibald “Archie” Carmichael (1916-2001)

1939-1940

Erick Bjarnson

1940-1941

Hugh Arthur Johnson (1910-1967)

1941-1942

Doreen Handel

1942-1943

Ann Belcher

1943-1945

Jonathan Hughes Arnett (1879-1953)

1945-1946

Robert B. Connor

1946-1948

Dorothy Ethelwyn [Ethelwin] Frost Cox (1922-2023)

1948-1949

Marion Terry

1949-1951

Aleck James “Alex” Robson

1951

Sam Sigurdson

1952

Dorothy Ethelwyn [Ethelwin] Frost Cox (1922-2023)

1952-1957

Margaret Amelia Creighton (1911-1979)

1957-1958

Stanley A. Livingston

1958-1960

Allan Harford Badgley

1960-1961

Margaret Amelia Creighton (1911-1979)

Teachers

Among the early teachers of Justice School were Agnes Davidson (1913), Evelyn Pentland (1913-1914), Annie Andrews (1913-1915), Nellie Holden (1914-1916), B. McNevin (1915-1916), J. Duilan (1916-1917), Annie Falconer (1916-1919), Alice Bisset (1917-1918), Gladys Christie (1918-1919), Jean Brown (1919-1920), Gladys Pearson (1919-1920), W. I. Stewart (1919-1921), D. McDonald (1919-1920), Mildred Thornton (1920-1923), Olive Falconer (1921-1922), W. Logan (1922-1923), Marjory Davis (1922-1923), R. Slauson (1922-1923), A. Emerson (1923-1924), Margaret Elliott (1923-1925, 1926-1927), Marjorie Hogarth (1925-1926), Dianne Lucow (1927-1928), Ruby Magee (1928-1929), Kay Kellar (1929-1930), Helen McLennan (1930-1933), Doris Moore (1933-1934), Margaret Sutherland (1934-1935), Ruby Black (1934-1935), Edna Elder (1935-1937), Helen Brownell (1937-1940), Verna Hughes (1940-1941), Gwen Waring (1941-1942), Jean Justice (1942-1943), Phyllis Hill (1943-1945), and Merle Westbrook (1945-1946).

Period

Teachers

1946-1947

Donna Grace Douglas (grades 1-8), Dorothy Ethelwyn Frost (grades 9-11)

1947-1948

Donna Grace Douglas (grades 1-7), Dorothy Ethelwyn Frost (grades 9-11)

1948-1949

Marion Terry (grades 8-11), Eileen May Wray (grades 1-6)

1949-1950

Muriel Isabel Hunter (grades 1-6), Aleck James Robson (grades 7-11)

1950-1951

Muriel Isabel Hunter (grades 1-6), Aleck James “Alex” Robson (grades 7-11)

1951-1952

Florence Jessie Chambers (grades 1-6), Dorothy Ethelwyn Frost Cox (grades 7-11, January-June), Sam Sigurdson (grades 7-11, August-December)

1952-1953

Florence Jessie Chambers (grades 1-6), Margaret Amelia Creighton (grades 7-11)

1953-1954

Margaret Amelia Creighton (senior grades), Elaine Kolke (junior grades)

1954-1955

Margaret Amelia Creighton (senior grades), Elaine Kolke (junior grades)

1955-1956

Margaret Amelia Creighton (senior grades), Elaine Kolke (junior grades)

1956-1957

Hazel Adams (junior grades), Margaret Amelia Creighton (senior grades)

1957-1958

Janie Crossen (junior grades), Stanley A. Livingston (senior grades)

1958-1959

Allan Harford Badgley (grades 10-11), Marion Elsie Badgley (grades 5-9), Elaine Claire Bollman (grades 1-4)

1959-1960

Allan Harford Badgley (grades 9-10), Elaine Claire Bollman (grades 1-6), Dorothy Ethelwyn Frost Cox (grades 11-12), ? (grades 7-8)

1960-1961

Elaine Claire Bollman (grades 1-6), A. W. Parils (grades ?), Margaret Amelia Creighton (grades ?)

Among the other teachers of Justice School were Adelaide Mary Feil (1961-1963, grades 1-8), Jean Witter (1962-1967), Lorna Richardson (1963-1964), Glenda Holmes (1964-1965), and Carol Armstrong (1965-1967).

Photos & Coordinates

The original Justice School

The original Justice School (circa 1911)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Department of Education photograph album (A 0278),
GR2664, G 11005, page 68.

Justice School

Justice School (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A 0233, C131-1, page 110.

A homecoming celebration was held when the school closed

A homecoming celebration was held when the school closed (July 1967)
Source: Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]

The former Justice School building

The former Justice School building (June 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

The former Justice School building and bell

The former Justice School building and bell (June 2020)
Source: Rose Kuzina

The former Justice School building

The former Justice School building (June 2020)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.99748, W99.79699
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Tenders, Manitoba Free Press, 5 August 1911, page 3.

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

Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]

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.

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

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

We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 7 January 2024

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