The Ruskin School District was organized formally in May 1918 and a school bulding was purchased for $1,500 from the Borshaw School District and moved to SW22-28-22W in the Municipality of Ethelbert. In 1919, the building was moved to SW10-28-22W and a teacherage was built. The school was destroyed by fire in October 1925 and it was rebuilt and opened by February 1926. The district joined the Duck Mountain School Division in 1967. After the school closed, the building was used until 1984 as a private residence. A municipally-designated historic site as of 1999, the building was then purchased and moved to SW25-29-22W by a local resident who had planned to renovate it as a schoolhouse museum. He died before those plans could be fulfilled. As of 2012, the building stood vacant along with other heritage structures. It was destroyed in the fall of 2015.
Among the teachers of Ruskin School were Hnat Plastsko, Steve Kozak, Mrs. Sargent, E. S. Smook (1919), M. I. Chreplyk (1920), Fredda Foster (1923-1924), Gregory Marko (1925), Mrs. Herron (1926), Mr. O. C. Brecker (1926), W. I. Sianchuk (1927-1932), Victor Chorneyko (1932-1936), Miss Nellie Chorneyko (1936-1937), Anne Panko (1937-1938), Mike T. Karpiak (1938-1939), Nicholas Pereski (1939-1940), John Hryshowy (1940-1941), Mary Sametz (1941-1942), Fred Zaplitney (1942-1944), Micheal Kotyluk (1944-1946), Mike S. Syrnyk (1946-1947), Annie Medwid (1947-1948), Maurice Kosmynko (1948-1949), Victor Pisiak (1949-1950), Sylvia Bagan (1950-1951), Micheal L. Maksymetz (1951-1954), Michael Belinsky (1954-1955), Tony Danyluk (1955-1957), Annie Stoski (1957-1958), Rosanne Fedirchuk (1958-1960), Pearl Harrison (1960-1962), Natalie Pretula (1962-1965), Mr. Hicks (1965-1966), and Natalie Pretula (1966-1967).
Ruskin School (no date) by J. S. Peach
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 61.
The former Ruskin School building (May 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Ruskin School building (May 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N51.51378, W100.43864
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
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.
Ruskin School, SW 25-29-22W, Ethelbert area, Manitoba Historic Resources Branch.
The Ties That Bind: A History of Ethelbert and District by Ethelbert History Book Committee, 1985, page 61.
Cooking With Class: A Century of Community Schools, A 2008 Fundraising Project of the Ethelbert District Community Fund.
We thank Mary Paziuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 29 January 2022
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