Historic Sites of Manitoba: Marringhurst School No. 231 (RM of Argyle)

Established on NE29-3-12 west of the Principal Meridian in March 1884, in the Rural Municipality of Argyle, it closed in 1967 and was consolidated into Pilot Mound School in January 1968. A monument on the site commemorates the pioneers who forded the Pembina River in 1879 to settle in the community of Marringhurst. The first log school, built in 1882, was situated 28 feet south of this monument. The present school building, constructed in 1892, served the community as school, church, and social centre. It continues to be used as a community museum. A plaque attached to the monument commemorates Paul de Maertelaere who did much of the masonry work at the site.

Among the teachers of Marringhurst School were Libbie H. White (1892-1893), Mary Bradshaw (1895-1896), I. A. McDonald (1897), Thomas Hicks (1897), Andrew F. Anderson (1897), Alfred White (1899), V. L. Cooper (1906), Mabel C. Jillett (1906-1907), Eva Hodgins (1907), Leah Embury (1907), Claude E. Law (1910), G. R. McKersie (1910-1911), Cynthia Alice Chrisholm (1911-1912), Mrs. Earl E. Ager (1912-1913), Vivian H. Durden (1913-1914), Florence Fargey (1914-1915), Margaret Ellis (1915-1916), Olive M. Thorn (1916-1917), O. M. Irwin (1917), Edith M. Reid (1918), Emma S. Thomas (1918-1920), F. W. Balfour (1920-1926), May Pollock (1926-1930), Kathleen Mary Kirkland (1930-1932), Mary Eleanor Hazelwood (1932-1935), Marjorie Scott (1935-1938), Alice Gertrude Ferris (1938-1940), Helen Doreen Hutton (1940-1942), Olive Snowden Berg (1942-1943), Olive Shuttleworth (1943-1944), Alice Rebecca Tomlin (1944-1946), Mary Striemer (1946-1947), Marie Gruener (1947-1948), Helen Doreen Davidson (1955-1959), Elsie G. Lumgair (1959), Sadie Kathleen Preston (1960-1964), and Evelyn Corinne Jones (1964-1966).

Marringhurst School (no date) by G. H. Robertson Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 81. The former Marringhurst School building, now operated as a local museum (September 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The interior of Marringhurst School (September 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Marringhurst School commemorative monument (September 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.24392, W99.06581 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Baldur District Schools (RM of Argyle)

Sources:

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.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Marringhurst School District No. 231 Registers of Attendance, GR0294, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Marringhurst School District No. 231 Daily Registers, GR0294, Archives of Manitoba.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough, Nathan Kramer, and Ed Grassick.

Page revised: 7 December 2019

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