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Named for community activist Louis Lavallee and the extended Lavalee family, this school district was formed in May 1910 as a part of the St. Boniface South / Mager School District No. 989 and a two-room schoolhouse was erected along St. Anne’s Road at the corner of De La Giclais Avenue, on Lot 50 in the Rural Municipality of St. Vital. In 1946, the original building was replaced with a new eight-classroom structure at the northwest corner of St. Anne’s Road and Sterling Avenue. In April 1959, the district was incorporated into the St. Vital Municipal School District No. 2374 and later the St. Vital School Division.
The facility was later replaced at a different site by the present Lavallee School. The older building was leased for $1 to the Children’s Home of Winnipeg for use as a learning centre for emotionally disturbed children. The building was demolished when Bishop Grandin Boulevard was constructed.
Period
Principal
1920-1921
Beatrice Thibodeau
1921-1923
Cordelia E. Toupin
1923-1924
Bessie Sinclair Crawford
1924-1926
Philip Markus Petursson (1902-1988)
1926-1928
John Neriah Sturk (1874-1939)
1928-1935
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain Smith (c1908-1968)
1935-1936
Merlin Victor Borden Newton (1909-1987)
1936-1938
?
1938-1940
Charles Middlemiss “Jock” Langford (1902-1946)
1940-1951
?
1951-1953
Borislaw Nicholas Bilash (1929-2021)
1953-1969
?
1969-1971
Simon “Cy” Nimchuk (1933-2020)
Among the early teachers at Lavallee School were Anne Seney? [Savoy?] (Fall 1910 - Spring 1911), Lucia Seney? [Savoy?] (Fall 1911 - Spring 1911), M. W. MacCoshan? (Fall 1911), Marie Lagamodiere (Spring 1912), G. A. Lariviere (Fall 1912 - Fall 1914), and Rosa Johnson (Spring 1915 - Spring 1920).
School Year
Teachers
1920-1921
Odile Parent (grades 1-2, Beatrice Thibodeau (grades 3-7)
1921-1922
Jeanne Blanc (grades 1-3, August-December), Marie Jeanne Pelletier (grades 1-3, January-June), Cordelia E. Toupin (grades 4-8)
1922-1923
Marie Jeanne Pelletier (grades 1-3), Cordelia E. Toupin (grades 7-10, August-December; grades 4-9, January-June), Maria Toupin (grades 4-6, August-December)
1923-1924
Bessie Sinclair Crawford (grades 5-9), Therese Lemoine (grades 1-4)
1924-1925
Louise Benoit (grades 1-4, January-June), Therese Lemoine (grades 1-3; August-December), Philip Markus Petursson (grades 4-9)
1925-1926
Louise Benoit (grades 1-4), Philip Markus Petursson (grades 5-9)
1926-1927
Louise Benoit (grades 1-4), John Neriah Sturk (grades 5-8)
1927-1928
Louise Benoit (grades 1-4), John Neriah Sturk (grades 5-8)
1928-1929
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 5-8), Anna Delima Todd (grades 1-4)
1929-1930
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 5-8), Anna Delima Todd (grades 1-4)
1930-1931
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 4-8), Anna Delima Todd (grades 1-4)
1931-1932
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 4-8), Anna Delima Todd (grades 1-4)
1932-1933
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 4-8), Yvonne Sicotte (grades 1-4)
1933-1934
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 4-8), Yvonne Sicotte (grades 1-3)
1934-1935
Irene Marie Eleanor Bain (grades 5-8), Yvonne Sicotte (grades 1-4)
1935-1936
Merlin Victor Borden Newton (grades 5-9), Yvonne Sicotte (grades 1-4)
1936-1937
?
1937-1938
?
1938-1939
?
1939-1940
?
1940-1941
?
1941-1942
?
1942-1943
?
1943-1944
?
1944-1945
?
1945-1946
?
1946-1947
?
1947-1948
?
1948-1949
?
1949-1950
?
1950-1951
?
1951-1952
1952-1953
1953-1969
?
1969-1970
Jo-Anne Marie Skakun (grade 1), Heather Diane Stewart (grade 2), Lylah Christine Myers (grade 3), Heather Dale Potter (grade 4), Margaret Mary Healey (grade 5), Elmer Henry Penner (grade 6), Edith Adeline Matthisen (grade 7), Robert McKinley Millman (grade 8)
1970-1971
Jo-Anne Marie Skakun (grade 1), Emma Brabent (grade 1), Heather Diane Stewart (grade 2), Lylah Christine Myers (grade 3), Heather Dale Potter (grade 4), Margaret Mary Healey (grade 5), Elmer Henry Penner (grade 6), Edith Adeline Matthisen (grade 7), Robert McKinley Millman (grade 8)
Among the other teachers of Lavallee School were Maria Emma McDougall Brabant, Thomas Edwin “Ed” Sweet, and Miss Labossier (c1941).
Architectural drawings for the ground floor of the first Lavallee School (1926)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Plans and Shop Drawings (GS 0100), Lavallee School, 1926 (GR 3125).
The first Lavalee School (circa 1915)
Source: St. Vital Museum
The second Lavallee School building (1970s)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Winnipeg, St. Anne’s Road, No. 23/70Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.83746, W97.09351
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lavallee School / Ecole Lavallee (505-511 St. Anne’s Road, Winnipeg)
Memorable Manitobans: Louis Lavallee (1852-1935)
“St. Vital council to urge new car line,” Manitoba Free Press, 7 January 1922, page 17.
“Wanted - two lady teachers for Lavallee School District No. 1538,” Manitoba Free Press, 6 August 1923, page 14.
“Rogers’ meeting,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 August 1926, page 2.
“Lavallee School District,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 April 1946, page 5.
Street Map of Winnipeg, The H. M. Gousha Company, 1961.
“Leasing of school okayed,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 September 1974, page 54.
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.
Obituary [Thomas Edwin Sweet (1906-1985)], Winnipeg Free Press, 17 August 1985, page 59.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
We thank Junette Taylor for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 7 November 2024
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