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Known as Roseberry School District when it was established formally in September 1885, a brick one-room school building was erected in 1904, in the newly established village of Neelin in the Rural Municipality of Argyle. Its first teacher was Caroline Cumming. Increases in student enrollment, and the opening of high school classes, necessitated the use of a former bank building as additional classroom space for grades 9 to 11 under teacher Florence Warriner of Miami. In August 1941, the district was renamed Neelin School. The brick school was destroyed by fire in 1950 and, while two-classroom (one for high school) replacement was built, classes were held in the Neelin United Church. In 1960, the high school students were transported to Cartwright or Killarney and the school reverted to a single classroom. The school closed in January 1968 and the building was later demolished. A monument at the former site was unveiled in July 1982.
Noteworthy students of Roseberry / Neelin School included Dr. Easton of Selkirk, Eleanor Fisher, Barney Bolton, Bill Bolton, Gordon Henwood, Lloyd Henwood, Hugh McKay, and Grant McKay.
Period
Principal
1934-1935
Frances Mills
1935-1936
Charles K. Gorrie
1936-1939
Robert Octavius Picken “Barney” Bolton (1907-1985)
1939-1940
Willard Ervin Rife (1890-1970)
1940-1941
Alfred John Patrick Moran (1903-1967)
1941-1942
Kenneth Donald Bruce (1892-1968)
1942-1943
Mrs. A. M. Young
1943-1944
N. Ione Sampson
1944-1945
Wilma Brusch
1945-1946
H. M. Easton
1946-1947
Ross E. Ramage
1947-1948
Florence Lee
1948-1949
Caroline Cumming (1885-1979)
1949-1950
K. F. Howlett
1950-1951
P. Huebner
1951-1952
Caroline Cumming (1885-1979)
1952-1953
?
1953-1954
Donald Bruce Sealey (1927-2005)
1954-1955
?
1955-1958
Mrs. Marie Irene Doole
1958-1959
G. A. Franck
Among the other teachers who worked at Roseberry School / Neelin School through the years were John Wesley Peters (1890s), Miss Florence Warner (1924-1925), Albert Buttress (1892, 1895, 1913), Annie F. Playfair, and Ethel M. Arnott.
The Roseberry School building, erected in 1904 and destroyed by fire in 1950 (no date) by G. H. Robertson
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 50.
Monument near the former site of the Neelin School building (October 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.22988, W99.34842
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Neelin High School (1020 Brandon Avenue, Brandon)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Baldur District Schools (Baldur, RM of Argyle)
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
I Remember: Lights Along the Valley and Huntly by Caroline Cumming, 1970.
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.
We thank Nathan Kramer and Ann McWhinnie for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 January 2021
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