Historic Sites of Manitoba: Acheson School / Rosenfeld School No. 755 / Coronation Rosenfeld Public School / Rosenfeld Elementary School (Rosenfeld, Municipality of Rhineland)

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

Known originally as the Acheson School District when it was established in May 1893, named for a family who homestead in this area, a one-room, 22-foot by 28-foot schoolhouse was built at a cost of $590 in the village of Rosenfeld (NW9-3-1W) in what is now the Municipality of Rhineland. The first teacher of Acheson School was Peter Dyck. Discussions began in 1902 about replacing it with a two-storey, two-classroom building. Nothing happened until around 1912 when the new school with a bell tower opened. It was renamed Rosenfeld School in 1921, hosting classes in grades 1 to 9. By 1933, classes up to grade 12 were available although the higher grades were held on the second floor of a nearby hatchery and an annual tuition fee of $10 had to be paid by students.

The two-storey school with the bell tower, constructed in 1912, was torn down after the construction of a third school building in 1937. Its bell, weighing about 600 pounds, was sold for $18 to the congregation of the Lutheran church at Greenwald.

The 1937 building was named Coronation Rosenfeld Public School, for the coronation of King George VI that year. The school had a total of five classrooms: two on either side of a hallway on the main floor with stairs leading up to a staff room (an area directly above the inside stair entrance to the school) plus one classroon in the southwest corner of the basement. Both washrooms were along the south side of the basement with the auditorium/gymnasium along the north side of the basement which included a stage area at the west end. A custodian's room (containing supplies such as sweeping compound, toilet paper, and paper towels) was underneath the stairway going down to the basement with a furnace room directly across from it, approximately in the middle of the basement and on the west side of the basement hallway), which also served as a science laboratory.

In 1966, when Rhineland School Division built W. C. Miller Collegiate at Altona, the Division moved high school students from Rosenfeld to it. In 1971, the Rosenfeld School District became part of the School Division but the facility continued to be used for grades 1 to 8 until 1977, when grades 7 and 8 were moved to Altona to a Parkside Junior High School.

The present Rosenfeld Elementary School building was designed by architect Rudolf Paul “Rudy” Friesen and built by Winkler Building Supplies between 1981 and 1982, adjacent to the grounds of the previous building, which was removed.

Principals

Period

Principal

1922-1923

Julius George Toews (1893-1981)

1923-1933

?

1933-1935

John G. Feller

1935-1938

Gerhard J. Siemens

1938-1948

Carl Leo Pokrant (1908-1992)

1948-1950

H. M. Friesen

1950-1953

John J. Bergen

1953-1954

?

1954-1956

Edmond Dyck

1956-1959

Gustav “Gus” Pokrant (1907-1981)

1959-1962

A. G. Toews

1962-1964

Edgar J. Enns

1964-1965

Rudolph Thiessen

1965-1968

Herman Kuhl

1968-1969

Menno Hildebrand

1969-1971

Jake Martens

1971-1972

Keith Wiebe

1972-1976

Bruno Mekelburg

1976-1984

Jacob Hildebrand

1984-1992

William Arthur Wiebe

1992-1997

Edwin Klassen

1997-2007

William Arthur Wiebe

2007-2009

Lane Curry

2009-

Jason Pilkington

Teachers (1921-1973)

Teacher

Grade(s)

Year(s)

Donald Bergen

5-6

1969-1970, 1971-1972

John J. Bergen

9-11

1950-1954

Helen Braun

3-5

1960-1962

Eva Derksen

1-4

1946-1947

Ken Doell

5-6

1963-1964

Anne Driedger

3-5

1950-1954

George Driedger

9

1959-1960

Dorothy Dyck

6-8

1954-1956

Edmond Dyck

9-11

1954-1956

Frances Dyck

1-3

1954-1957

Anne V. Elias

1-4

1923-1927, 1928-1936

A. J. Enns

1-3

1921-1922

Anne H. Enns

1-2

1950-1954

Edgar J. Enns

9-10

1960-1964

Sarah D. Enns

1-3

1923-1924

Helen Epp

5-6

1965-1967

Miss A. Fehr

2-4

1969-1971

John G. Feller

5-12

1929-1935

Joan Fisher

1-2

1963-1964

H. M. Friesen

9-11

1948-1950

Esther Froese

1-2

1966-1968

M. Froese

6-8

1954-1955

Lorna Giesbrecht

1-2

1960-1961

Susan Giesbrecht

5-6

1972-1973

Lorna Harder

4-6

1957-1958

Miss R. J. Heimann

6-8

1954-1955

Esther Heinrichs

5-6

1971-1973

A. Hildebrand

6-7

1970-1971

Clara Hildebrand

1-2

1972-1973

Ken Hildebrand

3-5

1970-1973

Menno Hildebrand

7

1968-1969

Katie Hildebrandt

3-4

1963-1964

Sarah Janzen

1-3

1957-1960

Frieda Krahn

1-4

1948-1950

Herman Kuhl

6-9

1959-1964, 1965-1969

Luella Lenzman

1-2

1961-1963

Gerta Loewen

4-5

1954-1957

Mildred Loewen

1-4

1944-1946

Eva Martel

1-4, 7-8

1947-1948, 1963-1964

Jake Martens

5-6, 8

1966-1971

Bruno Mekelburg

7-8

1972-1973

Anne Penner

7-8

1963-1964

Dorothy Penner

3-4

1958-1959

Anne W. Peters

1-4

1927-1928

Ruth L. Peters

3-4

1967-1969

Carl Leo Pokrant (1908-1992)

9-11

1933-1934, 1938-1948

Gustav “Gus” Pokrant (1907-1981)

5-8,11

1933-1947, 1956-1959

Louis Pokrant

5-8

1947-1954

Tina Redekop

3-4

1949-1950

Joe Reimer

7-8

1956-1958

M. A. Rempel

3-5

1961-1962

Elmer Sawatsky

7

1967-1968

Delores Schellenberg

1-2

1968-1970

Marlene Schellenberg

4-5

1964-1966

Susan Schroeder

6-8

1959-1960

Gerhard J. Siemens

9-11

1935-1938

Ruth Siemens

1-3

1964-1966

Erica Sommer

K-1

1970-1971

J. E. Suderman

4-8

1923-1929

Rudolph Thiessen

6-8

1964-1965

A. G. Toews

9-11

1956-1960, 1961-1962

Helen Toews

3-5

1959-1960

J. G. Toews

3-9

1921-1923

June Vanderburgh

3-5

1962-1963

Tina V. Warkentin

1-4

1936-1939

Agnes Wiebe

1-3

1922-1923

Anne Wiebe

1-4

1941-1944

Keith Wiebe

7-8

1971-1972

Anne Zacharias

1-2

1971-1972

Photos & Coordinates

The second Rosenfeld School, built around 1911

The second Rosenfeld School, built around 1911 (no date) by G. G. Neufeld
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 120.

The third Rosenfeld School, built in 1937

The third Rosenfeld School, built in 1937 (no date) by G. G. Neufeld
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 120.

The third Rosenfeld School, built in 1937

The third Rosenfeld School, built in 1937 (no date)
Source: Arthur Wiebe

The third Rosenfeld School, built in 1937

The third Rosenfeld School, built in 1937 (no date)
Source: Arnold Mekelburg

Rosenfeld School

Rosenfeld School (1981)
Source: Arthur Wiebe (Altona and District Heritage Research Centre)

Rosenfeld School

Rosenfeld School (November 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Rosenfeld School

Rosenfeld School (February 2024)
Source: Art Wiebe

Rosenfeld School

Rosenfeld School (February 2024)
Source: Art Wiebe

Rosenfeld School commemorative plaque

Rosenfeld School commemorative plaque (February 2024)
Source: Art Wiebe

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.20071, W97.54842
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Manitoba Communities: Rosenfeld

Sources:

Altona East topographic map, 62H/4 East, Edition 1 ASE, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].

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

[Acheson School], The Morris [Manitoba] Journal, 22 November 1967, page 16.

“First Rosenfeld village” by Elizabeth Bergen, Red River Valley Echo, 28 June 1972.

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 Jacob Hildebrand, Rose Kuzina, and Arnold Mekelburg for providing information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough, Al Schmidt (Altona and District Heritage Research Centre), and Art Wiebe.

Page revised: 26 February 2024

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