Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lavallee School No. 1538 (548 St. Anne’s Road, Winnipeg)

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

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.

Principals

Period	Principal
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)

Teachers

School Year	Teachers
1951-1952	Borislaw Nicholas Bilash, ?
1952-1953	Borislaw Nicholas Bilash, ?
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).

Photos & Coordinates

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. 23/70 Site 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)

Sources:

“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, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), GR 1196, 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: 18 March 2021

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