Settlers in the area east of Wawanesa, in what is now the Municipality of Glenboro-South Cypress, established a school district in the spring of 1882 and, by June, a one-room school had been erected. An early student here was Nellie McClung. She also taught at the school briefly, in 1896. The first Northfield School was destroyed by fire on 16 February 1933 (and a temporary school building was burned on 3 May 1933) but was rebuilt according to the original design, this time with a basement. In 1960, the school closed and its students went to Wawanesa Consolidated School No. 2393. The building was sold to the Town of Wawanesa. Designated as a municipal heritage site in May 1995, the building is now used by the Northfield Community Club for social functions.
Among the teachers of Northfield School were Frank Albert Schultz, James Thomas Cressy, Miss H. Mooney, Miss Mary Story, Miss Murdock, Nellie Mooney, James Briscoe, M. Matheson, C. King, Miss Annie Hill, George Armstrong, Miss Mary E. Cottinham, Miss Mable Kay, Mr. J. W. Richardson, Miss Agnes Mott, Miss G. M. McNabb, Miss Florence Potter, G. W. Wilson, Miss Florence Axford, Miss Blanche Donaldson, Miss L. Corbett, Miss Olga Donaldson, Miss A. E. Hansen, Miss E. Gimby, Miss E. Findale, Donald MacKay, Miss Annie Farney, Miss Annie Scott, Miss Mary Bates, Miss Iris Clark, Miss Irene Turnbull, Miss J. Buckingham, Miss Jennie Burgess, Miss E. P. Smith, Miss M. Dixon, Miss M. G. McDougall, Miss Grace Mayhew, Miss Olive Morrison, Miss Eileen A. Prowse, Miss Lillian Hatch, Miss Yetta Kranis, Miss Vera Clark, Miss Mae Ferris, Miss Agathe Neufield, Miss Jean Louise Ferguson, Miss Winnifred M. Campbell, Miss Catherine McTaggart, Miss Bernice Coulthard, Miss Johanna G. Kristjansson, Miss Viola Patterson, Miss Cleo Cove, Miss Ruby Drader, Miss Margaret Nicol, Miss G. Perkins, Miss Lois T. Leigh, Miss Alma Little, Miss Eleanor Skrupa, and Miss Eleanor Jackson.
Northfield School (no date) by G. H. Robertson
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 8.
Northfield School (August 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Northfield School (May 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Northfield School Horse Barn (August 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of Northfield School Horse Barn (May 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of Northfield School Horse Barn (May 2021)
Source: Rose KuzinaSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.57685, W99.57489
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
Memoirs of a School Inspector: Edward E. Best, 1888-1932 by Gladys M. Best and Hazel M. McFadyen, c1977. [Copy in library of the Manitoba Historical Society]
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.
Beneath the Long Grass by Glenboro and Area Historical Society, 1979, pages 91-92.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
Northfield School, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch.
We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 May 2024
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