Historic Sites of Manitoba: Osprey School No. 261 (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

The Osprey School District was established formally in 1882 and a school building was erected two years later on the northwest quarter of 5-14-15 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford. As new settlers arrived in the region and other school districts were established, the trustees realized that the school was too far east so they moved it to NW6-14-15 during the winter of 1892. A new building was erected in 1937 and the old building was sold and moved to Neepawa. The school closed in 1957 due to low enrollment and, in 1965, the building was sold and moved to a site in Neepawa. A monument marks the former site of the school building, with a history of the school contained inside, behind the plaque.

The teachers of Osprey School were Charles Herrell, W. M. Hamilton, Jennie Hamilton, W. A. Scott, Mildred Campbell, John Hockin, Lillian Brown, Emma McKinney, James Dempsey, John English, Miss Sproule, George H. Blackwell, Harry Morrison, Elizabeth Burns, Nellie Davidson, Rachel Hill, Janet Thomson, Jean Burns, Winnifred Peskett, Mary J. McDonald (1914-1915), Harold Bearists (1915-1916), Florence Cruickshank (1916), Kathleen McInnis (1916), Bessie Chisholm (1917-1919), Esme Eldred (1919-1922), Isabel Lowe (1922-1924), Ruth Blackwell (1924-1925), Myrtle Shuttleworth (1925-1927), Helen Thomson (1927-1929), Marguerite Kilburn (1929-1933), Genevieve Beattie (1933-1934), Harold Thomson (1934-1938), Margaret Thomson (1938-1941), Margaret Fearnley (1941), Margaret Taylor (1942), Ruby Burnash (1942-1944), L. Joyce McDonald (1944-1945), Mavis Bland (1945), Miss Hepworth (1946), Beulah Smith (1946-1947), Lorna Armstrong (1947-1948), Mike Leung (1948-1949), Margaret Coutts (1949-1950), Mildred Drayson (1950-1951), Ethel Galloway (1951-1953), Emily James (1953-1954), Mavis Yerex (1954), Lyla Murdock (1955-1956), and Constance Wright (1956-1957).

Osprey School (no date) Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 10. The former Osprey School building in Neepawa (April 2014) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Osprey School commemorative monument (August 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.16649, W99.52244 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Osprey School No. 261 (534 Brown Avenue, Neepawa)

Sources:

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.

First Century of Langford, 1891-1991 by Langford Centennial History Committee, 1990, pages 58-62.

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

The Beautiful Plains Story: 1983-2008 by Neepawa and Area History Committee, 2008, page 159.

This page was prepared by Allan Drysdale and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 31 January 2021

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