The Makepeace School District was established in December 1890. The first Makepeace School was built on SW34-16-19W in what is now the Municipality of Harrison Park, on land supplied by Duncan Cameron who, along with Dave Curwen Sr. and Tom Makepeace, formed its first School Board. A new building was erected in 1938, a quarter-mile south on NW27-16-19W.
After June 1949, due to small enrollments, the students attended Basswood School No. 1252. The district was formally dissolved in 1961. A monument at the former school site was erected in July 2006 in commemoration of the pioneers, trustees, teachers and pupils of the school. On the back of the monument is a plaque for the Rolling River Post Office, which operated under postmaster Duncan Cameron at SW34-16-19W between May 1896 and March 1911, and under postmaster Samuel Rutherford at SE33-16-19W from July 1911 to June 1916.
The teachers who worked at Makepeace School through the years included Mr. Bailey Fisher, Mr. Watts, Mr. Grundy, Mr. Hubbs, Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Coulter, Mr. Houston, Mr. Holmes, Mr. Kelly, Mr. D. Cameron Jr., Miss McGilvary, Miss A. Brown, Miss Grover, Miss Crewson, Ed Brown, Bill Rankin, Ethel Cook, Vera Buchanan, Miss F. Green, Belle Cameron (1940-1943), Edith Mitchell, Mary Kohmyr, Mr. Dolberg, Miss M. McGill, Miss Everall, Miss Nicols, Miss Scott, Miss Richardson, Miss A. Elder, Miss C. Stewart, Elsie Laming, Miss M. Greig, Miss C. Gourlay, Miss C. Fraser, Miss C. Averill, Mabel Buchanan, Grace Gill, Julie Parcher, Katie Montgomery, Alberta Armson, John Rose, Miss Ogston, Hugh Russell Makepeace (1944-1945), Gwen Buchanan, and Sadie Adams.
The old Makepeace School (no date) by W. C. Hartley
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 100.
The new Makepeace School (no date) by R. E. Beecher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 100.
The new Makepeace School (no date)
Source: Drew Makepeace
Makepeace School commemorative monument (August 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.40378, W100.02268
denoted by symbol on the map above
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Basswood Leaves From the Past, Basswood & District Centennial, 1970. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.B38Bas]
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.
Basswood, 1878-1978: A Century of Living by Basswood and District Historical Book Society, 1980. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.B38 Bas]
Makepeace School District No. 637, Daily Registers (1940-1943), Gordon Goldsborough [2021-0087, 2021-0088, 2021-0089]
Post Offices and Postmasters, Library and Archives Canada.
We thank Drew Makepeace for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 September 2021
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