Historic Sites of Manitoba: Okno School No. 1789 (Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton)

The Okno School District was organized formally in April 1915 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SE10-24-2E in the Rural Municipality of Bifrost. In 1967, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Evergreen School Division. The former school building was later used as a community centre.

Among the teachers of Okno School were Olga Podolick (1930-1933 & 1936-1937), Florence D. Moffat (1933-1936), Peter Maydan (1937-1940), Victor Holob (1940-1941), Mike Semenchuk (1942-1943), Bennie Alexander Zaluski (1946-1947), Mayme Sayak (1948-1949), Eldon Keast (1949-1950), Olga Hach (1950-1951), Irene Ann Krupnik (1954-1955), Helen Ruth Weik (1955-1957), Beverly Ann Rattai (1957-1958), Diana Kruk (1958-1959), Eddie Michael Powroznik (1959-1961), Julia Joan Bidochka (1961-1963 & 1964-1966), Andrew Minarik (1963-1964), and Patricia Elaine Robertson (1966-1967).

Okno School (no date) by H. D. Cumming Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 36. The former Okno School building (October 2015) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former Okno School building (July 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N51.05364, W97.22824 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

School District Formation Files (E 0027), Okno School District No. 1789, GR1688, 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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Onko School District No. 1789 - Daily Registers, GR6124, Archives of Manitoba.

We thank Rose Kuzina and Hedy Ciupak for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 24 April 2023

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