In 1885, trustees of the Orr School District (formed the previous year) purchased an acre of land in the Rural Municipality of Dufferin from farmer Charles Usher. Soon after, a school building was constructed on the property. Over time, land was removed from the district to establish the Emery School District (in 1898), Lintrathen School District (in 1901), and Graysville School District (in 1909). Finally, in 1919, when the Graysville Consolidated School District was formed, Orr joined it and ceased to exist. Its building was sold to the Kilmory School District around 1921 and moved to SW21-6-5W. No vestige of the school remains at the site but a metal sign erected by the Carman/Dufferin Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee commemorates it.
Among the teachers at Orr School were George Durin? (Spring-Fall 1885), James McGregor (Spring 1886 - Fall 1887), Jessie Cameron (Spring-Fall 1888), Mary J. Graham (Spring-Fall 1889, Spring 1894 - Spring 1895, Spring 1898 - Fall 1899), Agnes Young (Spring-Fall 1890), Jeannie Campbell (Spring 1891 - Fall 1892), Clara Potter? (Spring-Fall 1893), Grace Winkler (Fall 1895 - Spring 1896), M. R. Baxter (Fall 1896 - Fall 1897), Mercy L. Hugg (Spring-Fall 1900), Jessie A. Falconer (Spring 1901), Elspeth M. Craig (Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Wesley Wright Pirt (Spring 1905), George W. Campbell (Fall 1905 - Spring 1906), Lucy Jean Clandenning (Fall 1906 - Spring 1907), Alice Fletcher (Fall 1907), Harry I. Bowman (pt Spring 1908), Annie M. Collins (pt Spring 1908), Harriet M. Parkinson (Fall 1908), Helen M. Parkinson (Spring-Fall 1909), Georgia Farley (Spring 1910), Elizabeth J. Young (Fall 1910), Eleanora Short (Spring 1911 - Spring 1913), Marion MacDonald (Fall 1913 - Spring 1914), Emma E. Hickey (Fall 1914 - Spring 1915), Eunice A. Mullin (Fall 1915 - Spring 1916), Minnie Pommer (Fall 1916), Eleanor Collier (Spring 1917 - Fall 1918), and Alison T. Usher (Spring 1919).
Kilmory School, the former Orr School building (no date) by A. J. Manning
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 11.
Orr School commemorative sign (March 2021)
Source: Art PeersSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.48795, W98.18263
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Kilmory School No. 28 (RM of Dufferin)
Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), 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.
School Bells & Honey Pails: A GPS Tour of Local Country Schools, Dufferin Historical Museum, circa 2011, 74 pages.
We thank Art Peers for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 9 December 2025
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