Historic Sites of Manitoba: Matchettville School No. 1342 (Municipality of Norfolk-Treherne)

Link to:
Photos & Coordinates | Sources

According to local lore, the district was originally known as Bachelorville due to the scarcity of women in the early days of settlement, and was renamed Matchettville when the bachelors married. It is probably named for members of the Matchett family who homesteaded here.

Matchettville School was formally established in May 1905 and a school building was erected in 1906 on the southwest quarter of 1-9-10 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Norfolk-Treherne. The structure was constructed of concrete blocks made near Austin, by the Thomson family, using a machine brought from Ontario.

The school operated until 1951 when, due to declining enrollment, it closed after which students from the area went to West Treherne School. In June 1958, following a meeting at the school where School Inspector Richard Moore explained the virtues of consolidation, a vote was held to approve absorption of the school district into West Treherne as of January 1959. The building was sold to a local farmer for $1 and used as a granary. Its south wall was damaged extensively when a farm machine collided with it in mid-August 2003.

Among the teachers who worked at Matchettville School were Bert Parker (1907-1909), Kathleen Martin, Gertrude McNish, Annie McLeod, Eileen Uniac, M. Clinkenbroomer, Jessie McCreery, Alma Young, Laura Matchett, Irene Ross, Don C. Aldis, Agnes Lillies, Vera Lounsbury, Jean Sanderson, Florence Stevens, Luella Staples, Edith Barkwell, Elsie Emmond, Susie Gorrie, Freda Sanderson, Eleanor Brown, Alex Bissett, Miss McQuarrie, Ann Sutherland, Leona Foster, Anna Chambers, Mrs. C. M. King, Gwen Newcombe, Mrs. K. Chambers, and Ruth Kier.

On the opposite corner of the road south of the church is a monument marking the former site of Matchettville United Church.

Photos & Coordinates

Matchettville School (no date) by G. H. Robertson Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 101. The former Matchettville School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1302. The former Matchettville School building (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former Matchettville School building (August 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina The former Matchettville School building (August 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Interior of the former Matchettville School building (August 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.70976, W98.71037 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Matchettville United Church (Municipality of Norfolk-Treherne)

MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba

Sources:

Tiger Hills to the Assiniboine: A History of Treherne and Surrounding District, Treherne Area History Committee, 1976, pages 60-61.

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.

We thank Pat Sparling, Craig Spencer, Neil Christoffersen, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 15 February 2023

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