The Rounthwaite School District was organized formally in April 1900 and a one-room school building, designed by Brandon architect W. A. Elliott, operated in the village of Rounthwaite, in what is now the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa. The building was destroyed by fire in 1942. Until it was rebuilt, classes were held in the Rounthwaite Community Club, previously the residence of the local elevator agent. The school building was located about 100 feet north from the present Rounthwaite Cairn. A path led to the school, through a wetland area that was dry during the summer and frozen in winter. Further north from the school was a large playing field including a baseball diamond. The annual Rounthwaite picnic was held to the north and west of the playing field.
In 1967, the school closed due to low enrollment, after which local students went to schools in Brandon or the Wawanesa Consolidated School No. 2393. The former school building was sold and moved away, but is commemorated near the site by a monument.
The teachers who worked at Rounthwaite School through the years were Neil Livingstone (1900-1903), Russell Hewitt (1903-1905), Miss S. E. Elder (1905-1906), Mr. J. Morrison (1906-1909), Hugh Bain (1909-1913), Mr. McGregor (1913-1915), Miss Sedore (1915-1916), Mary Bain (1916), Cora P. Bishop (1916-1917), Laura E. Aselstine (1917-1918), Agnes Griffith Campbell (1918-1921), Robena MacNaughton (1921-1922), Florine Alexander (1922-1923), Miss Nixon (1922-1925), Miss Meddicot (1925), Mary Harrup (1925-1927), Miss Donald (1927-1929), Lillian Craik (1929-1931), Maude E. Bradley (1931-1932), Miss Golding (1932-1936), Grace Gadge (1936-1937), Miss A. Sutherland (1937-1938), Ila Cannon (1938-1940), M. Marguerite King (1940-1941), Violet Blaker (1941-1942), Miss McDougall (1942-1943), Beryl Leech (1943-1944), Esther Johnson (1944-1946), Jean Brandt (1946-1947), Lois Wolfe (1947-1949), Doreen Jenkins (1949-1950), Mrs. M. Melanson (1950-1951), Dorothy Brownridge (1951-1954), Miss Clubb (1954-1955), Miss S. Lazaruk (1955-1959), Miss A. Himpe (1959-1960), and Edith Mann (1960-1967).
The original Rounthwaite School building (1919)
Source: Carole Smith
The original Rounthwaite School building (no date) by J. B. Morrison
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 50.
The Rounthwaite School fire (1942)
Source: Carole Smith
The second Rounthwaite School building, used from 1943 to 1967 (no date)
Source: Carole Smith
The former Rounthwaite School (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 923.
The former Rounthwaite School building (1993)
Source: Carole Smith
Former site of Rounthwaite School (August 2014)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.67117, W99.79687
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rounthwaite Cairn (Rounthwaite, Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa)
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.
This page was prepared by Agnes H. Down, Jim and Lois Griffith, Carole Smith, and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 6 February 2021
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