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The Rugby School District was organized formally in June 1884 and a wood-frame, one-room schoolhouse operated at SE34-11-19W in the Rural Municipality of Elton as of 1883. A trail between Brandon and Rapid City, over which mail was transported twice each week, passed right in front of the school. The building was also used for Presbyterian church services. In 1932, a pressing need for a high school resulted in the opening of Rugby High School in the nearby village of Forrest, which was part of the school district. The original Rugby School closed in 1964 and the building was renovated into a private residence. It is commemorated at the site by a monument.
Period
Principal / District Principal
1931-1932
Edith Winnifred Morrison Robertson (1909-?)
1932-1964
The teachers of early Rugby School were T? Douglas (Spring 1885), E. J. Douglas (Fall 1885), Annie R. Lang (Spring 1886), J. G. Douglas (Fall 1886), John Armour (Spring-Fall 1887), Lottie T. Smith (Spring-Fall 1888), William Burnett (Spring-Fall 1889), Maggie Starrak (Spring 1890 - Fall 1891), J. V. Woods (Spring-Fall 1892), U. H. Woods (Spring-Fall 1893), Chris Noble (Spring-Fall 1894), Jeannie K. Smith (Spring-Fall 1895), Edith Spearin (Spring 1896 - Spring 1897), Vina? C. Dobbyn (Fall 1897), Helen Lury (Spring-Fall 1898), Ernest Tennyson Leech (Spring-Fall 1899), James Boyd Morrison (Spring 1900 - Spring 1901), Thomas C. Macnabb (pt Fall 1901), Bessie D. Macnabb [McNab?] (pt Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Mabel Rogers (Spring 1905 - Fall 1907 & Spring 1909 - Fall 1910), Mabel Killfoyle [Kilfoyle?] (Spring-Fall 1908), Jessie I. Grant (Spring 1911 - Fall 1913), Rhoda Power (Spring 1914 & pt Fall 1914), Evelyn Drake (pt Fall 1914), Mr. Dorrance, Miss Marguerite Merrell, Miss Catherine “Katie” Cookman (Fall 1918 - Spring 1919), Miss Mabel Forsyth, Miss Ella Middleton, Miss Myrtle Smeltz, and Miss M. Patterson, Miss Muriel Bromley (Fall 1928 - Spring 1930).
Period
Teachers
1930-1931
Mary Grace Gill (grades 1-9)
1931-1932
Mary Grace Gill (grades 1-8), Edith Winnifred Morrison (grades 9-10)
1932-1964
See below (grades 1-8), see Rugby High School / Elton Collegiate (grades 9-11)
The junior grades of Rugby School were taught by Miss Vera Edith “Dolly” Slator (Fall 1932 - Spring 1938), Helen Violet Wagner Hockley (Fall 1938 - Spring 1943), Miss Freda Helen Williams (Fall 1943 - Spring 1944), Miss Bernice Johnson (Fall 1944 - Spring 1947), Annie Wilson Grant (Fall 1947 - Spring 1948), Miss Mary E. Barnard (Fall 1948 - Spring 1949), Irene Blache Towle (Fall 1949 - Spring 1950), Astellia Maria Tivey (Fall 1950 - Spring 1951 & August-November 1951), Mrs. Cecile Ferguson (December 1951 - June 1952 & Fall 1952 - Spring 1953), Isabella Jane Mansfield (Fall 1954 - Spring 1957), Margaret E. Zachary (Fall 1957 - Spring 1959), Helen L. McFarlane (Fall 1959 - Spring 1960), Phyllis Evelyn Burner (Fall 1960 - Spring 1961), Rose E. Congram (Fall 1961 - Spring 1963), and Bernice Pearl Milne (Fall 1963 - Spring 1964).
Rugby School (circa 1905)
Source: Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]
Rugby School commemorative monument (June 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.96045, W99.98084
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rugby High School / Elton Collegiate (Forrest, RM of Elton)
Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]
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.
Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Rugby School District No. 272 - Daily Registers, GR2063, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Rugby School District No. 272 (High School) - Daily Registers, GR2063, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Elton Municipal School District No. 2360 (Rugby School) - Daily Registers, GR2063, Archives of Manitoba.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 17 June 2023
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