Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rathwell School No. 578 (Rathwell, Municipality of Norfolk Treherne)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Rathwell School District was established formally in May 1889 and a school building was erected in the village of Rathwell in what is now the Municipality of Norfolk Treherne. In 1903, it was replaced by a two-storey wood frame building designed by Brandon architect Walter H. Shillinglaw. In 1956, the district was consolidated with Gordon Union School No. 393 (earlier located at SE2-9-9W) to form Rathwell Consolidated School No. 578. The building was demolished in 1961 and replaced by the present structure.

On 18 July 1982, a stone monument topped by the original school bell was erected by former students and teachers in front of the last Rathwell School building, which is now closed and used for industrial purposes.

Principals

Period	Principal
1904-1905	Lorne L. Dawson
1905-1906	Jessie J. McKenzie
1906-1907	Mary K. Anderson
1907-1908	Douglas M. Brown
1908-1909	A. S. Gibson
1909-1910	Francis Kethel “Frank” Coleridge (1865-1944)
1910-1912	?
1913-1917	Clifford Knox Rogers (1889-1968)
1917-1918	Paul Knox
1918-1919	Angus McNevin (1862-1923)
1919-1923	J. A. Draper
1923-1924	James Andrew McKaughan (1877-1968)
1924-1925	Omar Ernest Campbell (1868-1936)
1925-1926	James Andrew McKaughan (1877-1968)
1926-1927	Mary J. Perry
1927-1928	John Alfred Hammond (1898-1988)
1928-1931	Wilfrid Gatley Booth (1904-1986)
1931-1932	Charles Edward Clare Durnin (c1903-1974)
1932-1936	Wesley Sterling McGill (1904-1986)
1936-1939	Jacob Truthwaite Norquay (1884-1976)
1939-1948	James Austin Delgaty (1894-1974)
1948-1952	Clair Edmond Dawson (?-1995)
1952-1953	Lorne Avery Chapple (1920-2000)
1953-1956	William George Cooper (1911-1983)
1956-1964	Maurice Alfred Decosse (1928-1977)

Teachers

Among the teachers who worked at Rathwell School were M. Allan Davis (1906), Vivian D. Glass (1941-1942), Thelma Bessie Brown Forbes, and Edith A. Fingland.

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of Rathwell School (circa 1903) Source: Andrew Cunningham Postcard view of Rathwell School (1908) by Winnipeg Photo Company Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2013-0082 Rathwell School (no date) by G. H. Robertson Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 90. Rathwell School commemorative monument with the former school building in the background (September 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.64916, W98.54918 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“Rathwell, Man”, Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, July 1919, 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.

We thank Andrew Cunningham and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 September 2021

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