Historic Sites of Manitoba: Molesworth School No. 765 (Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne)

The Molesworth School District was established formally in May 1893 and, two years later, a one-room schoolhouse was constructed of locally-cut logs at NE30-17-13 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne. It operated until 1916 when it was replaced by a wood frame building at NE19-17-13W. The school closed in June 1966 but was used for a time as a community centre. It is no longer present at the site but a monument commemorates it.

The teachers of Molesworth School were Rhoda Coats (1893-1895), F. A. E. Risk (1895), Tillie Perry (1896), J. G. Felland (1896-1898), Effie M. Christie (1898), C. M. Christie (1899), E. M. Seeley (1899), M. Edith McLaughlin (1900), Bertha L. Lillies (1901), Edna G. B. Herald (1905), Eliza A. C. Hargrove (1906), Ernest F. Frayne (1907-1908), Ralph Robbins (1909-1913), Olive Irvin (1914), Lella L. Moon (1914-1915), Eva M. Fahner (1916), G. J. Ferguson (1916), Mary McKenzie (1916-1917), Janette Grant (1917-1918), Kate O. Connelly (1919-1920), Miss Cleland (1920), Nora Singleton (1920), Margaret Young (1922-1923), E. J. McKay (1926-1927), Vinette Oliver (1928-1929), Emily Berry (1929-1933), Norma Bell (1933-1939), Dorothy Jeffery (1939-1942), Yvonne Gouthier (1941-1942), E. Martin (1941-1942), Irma Hearne (1941-1942), Effie Tyerman (1942-1943), Marion McCaskill (1942-1943), Leween Singleton (1943-1944), Leona Buchanan (1944-1945), Glen Miller (1945-1946), Margaret Gork (1945-1946), G. E. Cone (1947-1948), L. Lyons (1948-1949), Velma Thompson (1948-1949), J. E. Gladden (1949-1950), Jack Neufeld (1950-1951), Irvine Kitzul (1951-1952), Burton Large (1952-1953), Edna Irene Smith (1953-1954), Norman Henry Brown (1954-1955), Margaret Gork (1955-1958), Jennie E. Waraksa (1958-1959), Henry A. Wiebe (1959-1960), Miss E. Ternowski (1960-1961), Mrs. Edna Barnett (1961-1963), and Mrs. Margaret Gork (1963-1966).

The second Molesworth School building (no date) by C. K. Rogers Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 122. The former Molesworth School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 574. Molesworth School commemorative monument (August 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.47633, W99.24435 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

The Lansdowne Story: “Grain, Gravel, Growth” by A. F. (Dick) McKenzie, 1967, page 142.

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 Ken Stewart for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Allan Drysdale and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 September 2020

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