The Kelvin School District was established formally in August 1905. The first one-room school building occupied this site, in the southeast quarter of 24-10-6 west of the Principal Meridian in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, from 1907 to 1945. In addition to its educational function, the school also was a centre for meetings, dances, church services, and community picnics. A second school was here from 1945 to 1964, when it closed. The district was formally dissolved in January 1967 and was merged into the Portage Central Consolidated School No. 2456. The school and grounds were purchased and made into a private residence. A monument was dedicated on 19 June 1997 to the students, teachers, and pioneers of the area.
The teachers who worked at Kelvin School included Alex Armstrong, Margaret Mackay, Clara Findley, Bertha Reid, Marjorie Hall, Harry Mackenzie, Jessie Craig, Arabella Maxwell, J. Everall, Kate Graham, C. S. Martin, R. D. Askin, Evelyn Doak, Gertie Bray, Winnifred Jones, Mona Olton, Miss Buckles, Lily Patterson, Olie Wood, Jeanette Luscombe, Connie Thomson, Lena Jackson, Audrey Caister, Doug Moore, Mr. Morisseau, Lorraine Dack, Lois McTavish, Carol Dowd, Miss Lalonde, Pat Thatcher, Jean MacDonald, Gordon Gunn, Gordon Anderson, Mr. Macdonald, Treva Cook, Jean McQuarry, Bert Molinski, and Dorothy Woodcock.
The former Kelvin School building (circa 1990)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1064.
Kelvin School commemorative monument (September 2010)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.84259, W98.15216
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.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
Rural Schools of Portage la Prairie School Division #24 by Muriel Wright, 1996.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 February 2021
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