The Powerville School District was formally organized in July 1894 and a school building was constructed in 1896 at the southeast corner of SE31-11-19W in the Rural Municipality of Elton, on land owned by farmer Henry Lawrence Power (1858-1946) for whom the district was named. The building was renovated through the years; electric wiring and drywall was added in 1926, and windows were relocated from the east to west walls. In 1949, it was put on a new basement, toilets were added, and a heating plant was installed, replacing the former pot-bellied stove.
The school became part of the Elton Municipal School District No. 2360 in January 1959. It closed in June 1964 and remaining students joined the Rolling River School Division, with students going to the Forrest Elementary School.
A monument, built in October 1999 by masons Ray McLaughlin and Ron Borotsik, was dedicated at a ceremony on 5 August 2000 in honour of the pioneers, teachers and students of the school. Its plaque was donated by the Lumbard family.
The teachers of Powerville School were Mr. R. G. C. Kelly (Spring 1896 - Spring 1897), G. Mildred (Fall 1897), Grace A. Mitchell (Spring-Fall 1898), Jean McConechy (Spring-Fall 1899), Ellen Minaker (Spring 1900 - Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Mr. Winton (?-?), Miss Lewis (?-?), Lorne Hunter (?-?), Gertrude B. “Gertie” Johnson (Spring 1906, pt Fall 1906, Spring-Fall 1907), Marnie Stinson? (pt Fall 1906), Lizzie E. M. Powers (Spring-Fall 1908), Edith Armstrong (Spring 1909 - Spring 1911), Marion R. Tracy (Fall 1911), Nellie Smith (Spring 1912), Kate “Katie” Armstrong (Fall 1912 - Fall 1914), Florence M. Rawson (Spring 1915, pt Fall 1915 - Spring 1916), Miss A. B. Wheaton (pt Fall 1915), Jean A. Smith (Fall 1916 - Spring 1919), Jean E. Curtis (Fall 1919 - Spring 1920), Jewel M. Nesbitt (Fall 1920), Alice M. Palen? [Palmer] (January-April 1921), K. Clench (May-June 1921), Irene Sinclair (Fall 1921, Fall 1922 - Spring 1923), M. Caldwell (Spring 1922), Lottie Dotten (Fall 1923 - Spring 1925), Beth M. Petty (Fall 1925 - Spring 1928), Amy M. Stewart (Fall 1928 - Spring 1929), Lena Ross McDougall (Fall 1929 - Spring 1933), Amy Amelia Davidson (Fall 1933 - Spring 1936), Doris Edith Osborne (Fall 1936 - Spring 1938), Mabel Genevieve “[Gen/Jean]” Beattie (Fall 1938 - Spring 1941), Clarice Marguerite McLean (Fall 1941 - Spring 1942), Marguerite Edna Mastin (Fall 1942 - Spring 1944), Doreen Elizabeth Alvis (Fall 1944 - Spring 1945), Grace Marjorie Williams (Fall 1945 - Spring 1946), Ellen Marie Jackson (Fall 1946 - Spring 1947, Fall 1948 - Spring 1949), June Margaret Gowanlock (Fall 1947 - Spring 1948), Helen Mae Brown (Fall 1949 - Spring 1952), Joyce Fielding Muriel Witter (Fall 1952 - Spring 1953), Edith Edna Stefan (Fall 1953 - Spring 1954), Flora J. Johnson (Fall 1954 - Spring 1955), Margaret M. Tunningley (Fall 1955 - Spring 1956), Marjorie Jean Witter (Fall 1956 - Spring 1958), Ellen Marie Learmonth (Fall 1958 - Spring 1964), and Lulu Garbutt (?-?).
Powerville School (circa 1911)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photos GR2664 C65.
Students at Powerville School (circa 1915)
Source: James Frank
Powerville School (July 1929)
Source: James Frank
Powerville School (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 6.
Powerville School commemorative monument (June 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.96037, W100.05011
denoted by symbol on the map above
Cummin’s Rural Directory Map for Manitoba published by the Cummins Map Company, 404 Chambers of Commerce, Winnipeg, 1923. [Copies held by Edward M. Ledohowski and Gordon Goldsborough]
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.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Powerville School District No. 824 - Daily Registers, GR13975, Archives of Manitoba.
Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]
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.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank James Frank for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 19 May 2023
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