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Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The St. Francois Xavier West School District was formally established by the Roman Catholic School Board at some point between 1870 and December 1875. Its mid-range district number was representative the later integration of the French schools into a single Department of Education district numbering system, with this district gaining its District No. 1336 designation between 1902 and 1905.
Built in 1906 and situated on River Lot 138 at the northwest corner of Highway 26 and Meadows Road, the school was originally known as St. Francois Xavier West School No. 1336. In 1934 the district was divided, creating the George Herbert School No. 2248, and the one-room frame building was moved to this site in the Rural Municipality of St. Francois Xavier. The name change to Pigeon Lake School took place as early as 1950 or as late as 1955. In 1960, it was consolidated with others St. Francois Xavier Centre School District No. 1027, Morgan School District No. 31, and Todd School District No. 1023 to form St. Francois Xavier School No. 2387 and operated into 1961. A monument was installed in 1996 by the St. Francois Xavier Historical Society.
Among the teachers of St. Francois Xavier West School / Pigeon Lake School were Aug. de la Perriere (Spring 1898 - Spring 1899), P. H. LeBlanc (pt Fall 1899), F. H. Falcon (pt Fall 1899 - Spring 1900), Sarah Jane Isbister (Fall 1900 - Fall 1901), records unavailable (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), J. D. Lucien Bertrand (Spring 1905), Salorme Breland (Fall 1905 - Spring 1906, Fall 1908 - Spring 1909, & Spring 1910), Ed. P. de Laforest [La Forest] (Fall 1906 - Spring 1906), Raoul St. Germain (Fall 1907 - Spring 1908), M. R. P. Precourt (Fall 1909), Elinore Zastre (Fall 1910), Marie Lafreniere (Spring-Fall 1911), Agnes Lafreniere (Spring-Fall 1912), M. A. Lamarre (Spring 1913 - Spring 1915), Louise Massicotte (August 1915 - January 1916), Florette Morin (February-June 1916 & Fall 1919), Agnes Lavallee (Fall 1916 - Spring 1917), Caroline Courchene (Fall 1917 - Spring 1918), Jeanne Lavoie (Fall 1918 - Spring 1919), Mary Harrison (Spring 1920), G. E? Matthews (Fall 1920), Anastasia Brissette (Spring 1921), Solange Desautels (Fall 1921 - Spring 1922), Marie Amy Goulet (Fall 1922 - Spring 1923), Ruby Linnet Spenceley (Fall 1923 - Spring 1927), Rosa Berard (Fall 1927 - Spring 1928), M. Louise Lafreniere (Fall 1928 - Fall 1929 & January-February 1930), Tevie S. Satten (March-June 1930), Marie Lorette Regnier (Fall 1930 - Spring 1931), Henry Robert Ramsay (Fall 1931 - Spring 1934, September-October 1934, April-June 1935, & Fall 1935 - Spring 1937), Mathilda M. Rochon (October 1934 - March 1935 & Fall 1937 - Spring 1938), Bernice Prefontaine (Fall 1938 - Spring 1941), M. Jean Perrault (Fall 1941 - Spring 1942), Elizabeth Ellen McDougall (Fall 1942 - Spring 1943), Agnes M. Rousseau (Fall 1943 - Spring 1946), Alice Marie Rousseau (Fall 1946 - Spring 1947), Therese Aurore Prefontaine (Fall 1947 - Spring 1948), Irene M. Dauphinais (1948-1953), Dorothy Pauline Coates (1953-1954), Marguerite Louise Breland (1954-1958), and Ellen Eliza Finegan (1958-1961).
St. Francois Xavier West School (no date) by E. D. Parker
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 100.
Pigeon Lake School commemorative monument (2010)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.94693, W97.59833
denoted by symbol on the map above
Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Board of Education meeting minutes and office files (A 0052), GR1622, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, St. Francois Xavier West School District #1336 - Daily Registers, GR0645, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Pigeon Lake School District #1336 - Daily Registers, GR0645, 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.
Our First Hundred Years: A History of St. Francois-Xavier Municipality. St. Francois-Xavier Municipality Historical Committee, 1980. Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.S234.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 6 August 2022
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