The Purple Hill School District was established formally in February 1887 and a school building was erected at SW18-4-24W in what is now the Municipality of Brenda-Waskada. It operated until 1959 when the district was dissolved, and remaining students went to Medora Consolidated School No. 493. The frame school building is no longer present at the site but a monument commemorates it. Some records for the school are held at the Antler River Museum in Melita. As of 1986, the former school building was being used for storage at NW35-3-25W.
Among the teachers of Purple Hill School were Mr. Henry (1887), Elizabeth Perrin (1888), William Bride (1890), R. M. Riddell (1892), Mr. Downey, Elizabeth McFetridge (1906), L. M. Bruce (1907), J. M. Falconer (1912-1913), Mabel Morrow (1914), Jennie Strang (1915), Laura Burns (1916-1917), Esther Phipps (1918-1919), Bertha Norton (1919-1920), Jennet Slayter (1920-1921), Miss F. Horrocks (1923-1924), George Henry (1924-1925), Mabel DeWitt (1925-1926), Margaret Simpson (1926-1927), Ruby Fulford (1928-1930), Aileen Casselman (1936-1939), Dorothy Kester (1939-1940), Mildred Tufts (1940-1941), Gertrude Pilkington (1941-1942), Elineor Conibear (1942-1943), Anita McKellar (1943-1944), Laureena M. O. Reilly (1944-1945), Marjorie Griffith (1945-1946), Violet Pearen (1946-1947), Dorothy Swerdferger (1947-1948), Muriel Fewings (1948-1949), Kathlyne Wilson (1949-1950), Zelda Lemaire (1950-1951), Mrs. Mary Edwards (1951-1955), Mary Graves (1955-1956), Avis Andrew (1956-1957), Mary Ellen Johnston (1957-1958), and Miss Heamens (1958-1959).
Purple Hill School (no date) by George Hunter
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 70.
The former Purple Hill School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 178.
Purple Hill School commemorative monument (October 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.29640, W100.71432
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
Bridging Brenda: The History of Brenda Municipality and Area, Volume 1 by Brenda History Committee, 1990, pages 125-126.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 October 2022
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