The MacRoss School District was established in August 1911 and, around February 1912, borrowed $1000 for the construction of a one-room schoolhouse. It operated at the southwest corner of SE8-22-7W in what is now the Municipality of West Interlake. It moved to SW5-22-7W, one mile south of its former site, in the summer of 1950. After the school closed in 1968, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Lakeshore School Division.
The former school building was used for some years as a community hall. Eventually, the land reverted to the municipality and the building was removed from the site. It is commemorated by a monument erected in 2001.
Among the teachers of MacRoss School were Joseph K. Lamb (1913-?), Gladys Anderson (1922-1923), Roselie Chernick (1924-1925), Miss Hlif Johnson (1925-1926), Hazel A. Robinson (1926), Mabel Peck (1927-1928), Agnes Deacon (1928), Ruby Broderick (1928), Doris E. Warren (1928-1929), Ileen E. Hicks (1929-1930), Joseph K. Lamb (1930-1931), Olive Ranson Sturgess (1932-1935), Dorothy Mackay Prescott (1935-1937), Dorothy Mary Jane Murray (1937-1940), Emma Louisa Ek (1940-1941), Stefania Grace Eyford (1941-1942), Elizabeth “Betty” Stewart (1942-1943), Valerie Vielfaure (1943-1944), Marion Lorna McCaskill (1944-1945), Olive Margaret Ferris (1945-1946), Mary Edith Barnard (1946-1947), Nellie M. Pawlyszyn (1947-1948), Beatrice Jean Hodges (1948-1949), Phyllis Gwendolyn Wetteland (1949-1950), Georgina Alexandra Seymour (1950-1951), Shirley Eleana Millar (1951-1952), Phyllis Ione Kenyon Lamb (1952-1953), Margaret Ann Chambers (1953-1954), Lavina Jean Ellen Hancox (1954-1955), Ruby Myrtle Mills (1955-1956), Simonne Massicotte (1955), Joyce Evelyn Mae Beckman (1956-1958), Edith Lawrence (1958-1962), Dorothy M. Blue (1962-1964), Edith Mary Penny (1964-1967), and Raymond Roy Gallinger (1967-1968).
MacRoss School (no date) by J. H. Plewes
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 142.
MacRoss School (no date)
Source: Judy Gleich
Original site of MacRoss School (November 2014)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
MacRoss School commemorative monument (October 2021)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.86076, W98.40569
denoted by symbol on the map above
Eriksdale West topographic map, 62J/16 West, Edition 1, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].
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.
Manitoba Permit Teachers of World War II, compiled by Louisa Loeb, Winnipeg: Hyperion Press Ltd., 2007.
Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), MacRoss School District No. 1575 - Daily Registers, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.
Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), MacRoss School District No. 1575 - Minute Books, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.
Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), MacRoss School District No. 1575 - Cash Book, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.
Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), MacRoss School District No. 1575 - Tax Assessment Roll, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.
Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), MacRoss School District No. 1575 - Miscellaneous, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.
Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools directly administered by Department (E 0166), File 1575 - MacRoss - Permanent, GR1206, Archives of Manitoba.
Beyond Beginnings by Eriksdale Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee, 1996, pages 67-68.
We thank Judy Gleich for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 3 October 2021
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