In 1898, pioneers of this area met at the Penrith post office, located at SE28-12-25W from 1884 to 1913, to lay plans for a new school in what is now the Rural Municipality of Wallace-Woodworth. A one-room frame schoolhouse, named for a nearby ravine, opened in 1900 on NE23-12-25W. In addition to meeting the educational needs of the community, it was also its social centre. In 1964, the school closed and was consolidated with Lenore School No. 1758. The former school building remains on the site and a cairn was erected on 29 July 1990 in commemoration of the pioneers, trustees, teachers, students, and residents of the area.
Among the teachers of Ravine School were Miss Sadie Scarth, Miss Helen Good, Miss Ella Scarth, Miss Isabelle Good, Mrs. Jefferson, Miss Joyce Dyer, Miss Maggie Elliott, Miss Anne Campbell, Miss Elizabeth McNab, Miss Byril Leach, Herman Warren, Miss Molly Cormack, Miss M. Hutton, Miss Annie M. Jones (1945), Miss Ida Storey, Mrs. Ellen "Nellie" Grant (1945-1946, 1948-1950), Miss Agnes Davidson, Miss Margaret Thelma Mitchell (1946-1948), Ernie Barnes, Miss Shirley Angus (1950), Miss Janet Wallace, Miss Sarah Violet Hill (1950-1952), Miss Mundle, Mrs. Helen D. Bryan (1953), Mrs. Olive Ellarene Dibblee (1953), Mrs. Florence Hill (1953), Miss Constance Dryden, Miss Grace Frame, Miss Ada Pauline Herkes, Miss Bernice Rita Merceniec (1953-1954), Miss Elin Deolinie Roye (1954-1957), Barbara B. Power Angus (1957-1959), Miss Flora Good, Miss Lillian Lambert, Miss Marion Robertson, Miss Josephine Sinclair (1959), Miss Elie Charles Fleury (1960-1963), Miss Marjorie Manns (1959-1960), Edith May Good, Miss Margaret King, Miss Myrtle Smeltz, Mrs. Helen Jackson, Miss Florence Bardwell, and Mary Emily Elizabeth Cole (1963-1964).
Ravine School (no date) by W. R. Beveridge
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 25.
The former Ravine School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1516.
The former Ravine School building (September 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former Ravine School building (May 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Interior of the former Ravine School building (September 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Ravine School monument (September 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.03135, W100.78307
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.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Ravine School No. 932 Daily Registers, GR0466, Archives of Manitoba.
We thank Sandra Garvie, Garry Draper, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 6 August 2021
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