The Ravenshoe School District was established formally in November 1903 and, early the following year, debentures were issued to finance the construction of a frame one-room school building on the northeast quarter of 14-11-12W in what is now the Municipality of North Norfolk. The building served as a classroom and social centre from September 1904 to June 1941, when it closed due to low enrollment. It reopened in September 1949 and was renovated in 1953 with a basement and indoor toilets. The school closed permanently in June 1962 and students henceforth attended Austin School No. 154. The building was sold for use as a granary but, as of 2010, it appeared vacant. A monument at the site was dedicated to students, teachers and residents of the surrounding community, at a ceremony on 5 July 1992.
The teachers who worked at Ravenshoe School included: Dora Faryon (1905), Olive Dryden (1906), Gertie Macdougall (1907-1909), Bertha Collier (1910), Jane Gardner (1910), J. L. Crammond (1911), Edith P. Lowe (1911-1912), Kathleen Johnson (1913), Viola Hipwell (1913-1915), Eva Morrison (1915), Reta Hipwell (1916-1917), Hannah I. Lamb (1917-1918), Lillace G. Calverley (1918-1919), J. Maude Phillips (1919-1921), C. L. Fraser (1921), B. Foreman (1921), Margaret M. Patterson (1922-1923), Della M. Garrell (1923-1924), Muriel McIver (1924-1925), Edna M. McIntosh (1925-1927), Jane Campbell (1927-1929), Helen Dorothy Williams (1929-1931), Mary Louise McLaren (1931-1932), Georgina S. Duncan (1932-1936), Vera Irene Matthews (1936-1938), Carmen S. K. Smallman (1938-1940), Myrtle Rosabelle Campbell (1940-1941), Mrs. Marjorie May Williams (1949-1953), Evelyn J. Rempel (1953-1954), Ardeth R. Swanton (1954-1955), Dorothy C. Wilson (1955-1957), Fern McPherson (1957-1958), Betty M. McCullough (1958-1960), Marion E. Graham (1960-1961), Donna Jean Robinson (1961-1962).
The former Ravenshoe School building (September 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former Ravenshoe School building (August 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
The former Ravenshoe School building (August 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the former Ravenshoe School building (August 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the former Ravenshoe School building (August 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Ravenshoe School commemorative monument (September 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Ravenshoe School commemorative monument (August 2022)
Source: David FordSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.93058, W98.99605
denoted by symbol on the map above
A Rear View Mirror: A History of the Austin and Surrounding Districts by Anne M. Collier, Altona: Friesen Printing, 1967.
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.
Through Fields and Dreams: A History of the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk and MacGregor by The History Book Committee of the North Norfolk-MacGregor Archives, 1998, pages 1145-1150.
We thank Rose Kuzina, David Ford, and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 October 2024
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