Historic Sites of Manitoba: Norris School No. 1207 (RM of Rockwood)

The Norris School District was organized formally in November 1902 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at the southwest corner of SE11-17-1E in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood. The district was dissolved in 1964 and its catchment area became part of the Teulon Consolidated School District and later the Interlake School Division. The former school building was used for a time as a community centre. It was still standing at the time of a June 2019 site visit.

Among the teachers at Norris School were Viola Johnson (Fall 1904, wife of John Alexander Roe), William Emsall (January 1905 - September 1909 & September 1913 - June 1915), Ernest A. Frayne (November 1909 - September 1910), Grace J. Van Alstine (October 1910 - December 1911), Isabella Campbell (January-June 1912 & August 1915 - June 1917), Jean Patterson (August-December 1912), J. M. Lewis (February-August 1913), Rudolf F. Peterson (September-December 1917), Holmfridur O. Johnson (January 1918 - June 1920), Mina E. Clark (May-June 1920 & January-June 1921), Edith Campbell (September-December 1920), Ethel Zolzman (Fall 1921 - Spring 1922), Eugenie Negrych (Fall 1922 - Spring 1923), Roy Morcombe (Fall 1923 - Spring 1924), E. Russell Dicks (Fall 1924 - Spring 1926), Audrey G. Hood (Fall 1926 - Spring 1927), Muriel D. Andrew (Fall 1927 - Spring 1928), Ebba Florence Peterson (Fall 1928 - Spring 1929), Ethel Oman (Fall 1929 - Spring 1930), Frances E. Campbell (Fall 1930 - Spring 1935), Ellen Gudrun Frederickson (Fall 1935 - Spring 1936), Alexander McNeill (Fall 1936 - Spring 1937), Gerda Margaret Peterson (Fall 1937 - Fall 1938), Sarah Segal (Fall 1938 - Spring 1940), Fanny Green (Fall 1940), Gudbjorg Eggertson (Spring 1941), Louis Alex Berg (Fall 1941 - Spring 1942), Marie Patricia McDonald (Fall 1942 - Spring 1943), Lenore Ruth White (Fall 1943 - Spring 1944), Joyce Beverley Haslund (Fall 1944 - Spring 1945), Doreen Meryl Mae Cronmiller (Fall 1945 - Spring 1946 & Fall 1948 - Spring 1949), Alberta Butler (Fall 1946), Gladys Dickson (Spring 1947), Mary Isabel Jeffery (Fall 1947 - Spring 1948), Ida Eva Gertrude Keeper (Fall 1949 - Spring 1950), Sophie Wasylkowski (Fall 1950 - Spring 1951), Lloyd Douglas Raine (Fall 1951 - Spring 1952), Hope Bowman (Fall 1952 - Spring 1955), Lorne William Ferley (Fall 1955 - Spring 1957), Ruth A. Ferley (Fall 1957 - Spring 1959), Phyllis Ann Donkin Rodych (Fall 1959 - Spring 1961), Hazel Ellen Ball (Fall 1961 - Spring 1963), and Barrie John Carman (Fall 1963 - Spring 1964).

Norris School

Norris School (no date) by H. D. Cumming
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 77.

Former Norris School building

Former Norris School building (May 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Former Norris School building

Former Norris School building (June 2019)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Rear view of the former Norris School building with baseball backstop

Rear view of the former Norris School building with baseball backstop (May 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Interior of the former Norris School building

Interior of the former Norris School building (June 2019)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Outdoor toilets at the former Norris School building

Outdoor toilets at the former Norris School building (May 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.43355, W97.35578
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Norris School District No. 1207, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Norris School District No. 1207 - Daily Registers, GR2046, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Norris School District No. 1207 - Daily Registers, GR5411, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Norris School District No. 1207 - Half Yearly Registers of Registers, GR5411, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Norris School District No. 1207 - Minute Books, GR5411, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Norris School District No. 1207 - Cash Books, GR5411, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Norris School District No. 1207 - Miscellaneous, GR5411, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Teulon Consolidated School District No. 1093 (Norris School) - Daily Registers, GR9481, 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.

Obituary [Viola Annetta Roe], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 October 1984, page 49.

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 Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 12 May 2023

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