Historic Sites of Manitoba: McMaster School No. 1864 (RM of Fisher)

The McMaster School District was organized formally in March 1917 and a one-room log schoolhouse was built by contractor W. C. Nichols in the second half of 1917. The school operated at NE5-25-1E in the Rural Municipality of Fisher and was eventually replaced by a wood frame schoolhouse built in the latter half of 1953. In 1967, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Lakeshore School Division. A wooden sign commemorates the school at the site.

Among the teachers who worked at McMaster School through the years were J. P. Smitherian? (1918), M. E. Krehbiel (1918-1919), Mike Doroschuk (1919-1920), M. E. Graham (1920-1921), William Huddestone? (1921-1922), D. Fyles (1924), John Whitney “Jack” Pickersgill (1925), Frank W. Mallins (1925-1926), Norman Wright (1927), T. Luzer (1918), Mrs. L. Hawkins (1928), T. Stewart (1928), Ledora May Hawkins (1928), May Millicent Mawer Bush (1929, 1960-1967), Kristrun A. Todd (1929-1931), Gordon Stinson (1933-1935), Edward H. Troughton (1936), Charles William Howard Griggs (1936-1937), Henry Zabu (1948), Joseph Gorchynski (1952), Vera Kutzy (1953), Eddie Pawroznik (1957-1958), Lawrence B. Kalynuk (1958-1959), Olga Eyjolfsson (1959-1960), and Mrs. May Bush (1961-1966).

McMaster School with teacherage at left (no date) Source: Seeing Canada Whole: A Memoir by John Whitney Pickersgill, page 63. Former site of McMaster School (July 2023) Source: Christine Loff Site Coordinates (lat/long): N51.14087, W97.41654 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

School District Formation Files [McMaster School District No. 1864], GR1688, E0027, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, McMaster School District No. 1864 Daily Registers, GR11220, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), McMaster School District No. 1864, GR1630, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), McMaster School District No. 1864 - Daily Registers, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), McMaster School District No. 1864 - Miscellaneous, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), McMaster School District No. 1864 - Cash Book, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Trustee records regarding geographically remote schools directly administered by Department (E 0166), File 1864 - McMaster - Permanent, GR1206, Archives of Manitoba.

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.

Yesterday's Dreams, Today's Memories: Dallas-Red Rose, Fisher Bay, Hodgson Area by Norsundal Cultural Group, 1985, page 163.

Seeing Canada Whole: A Memoir by J. W. Pickersgill, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1994.

We thank Christine Loff for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 5 November 2023

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