Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Andrews School No. 2 (RM of St. Andrews)

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Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The St. Andrews School District was organized formally in July 1871, although the earliest school in this area of Manitoba dates back to 1851 when a building of logs and stone (designated school #2) was constructed at this site in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews, replacing an earlier structure at the St. Andrews Rapids from the 1830s. Situated on two acres of land between St. Andrews-on-the-Red Anglican Church and the Church Rectory, the school #2 was used until it was condemned in 1900 and school #3 was constructed. An addition (school #4) was made in 1907 and the combined structure was used until it was destroyed by fire in 1926. It became the St. Andrews Consolidated School District in 1910.

In the aftermath of the fire, the school #2 was pressed into service while a replacement school was constructed. The original log and stone was covered with clapboards and the roof was reshingled. The fifth school opened in 1927 for classes in elementary grades while the older building continued in use for higher grades. It was divided into two classrooms in 1935, with grades 7 and 8 in one classroom and grades 9 to 11 in the other. School #2 was again condemned in 1942 and stood vacant until 1947 when efforts to have it designated as a historic site failed and it was sold to a local farmer.

A two-classroom addition was made to school #5 in 1942 and more classrooms were built in its basement in 1955 and 1962. Finally, in June 1964, construction of a new ten-classroom school designed by architect H. Peter Langes began and it opened officially on 19 December 1965. The building featured a large auditorium and the grounds had grown in size to eight acres. In 1967, the facility became part of the Lord Selkirk School Division.

Principals

Period	Principal
1921-1926	Jacob Truthwaite Norquay (1884-1976)
1926-1934	Omar Ernest Campbell (1868-1936)
1934-1941	Homer R. McAllister
1941-1944	George Edgar Haywood (c1902-1985)
1944-1946	Bodvar Jon Skuli Bodvarson (1911-1972)
1946-1948	James Andrew McKaughan (1877-1968)
1948-1949	Peter Jacob Olchowecki (1911-2011)
1949-1951	Nastia Kolodzinski “Nettie” Stadnyk (?-2017)
1951-1952	John William Mosquin (1926-2004)
1952-1956	Michael Richard Firman (1909-1977)
1956-1958	Wilfrid Laurier “Laurie” Tomasson (c1920-1998)
1958-1960	Michael Kiedyk (1933-2011)

Teachers

The early teachers of St. Andrews School included Rev. W. Cockran, Donald Gunn, Archdeacon Hunter, Rev. Kirby, Mayhew, George Kennedy, Archdeacon MacKay, Thomas Norquay, James Taylor, A. Hodgson, Bell, White, Wightman, S. E. Smalley (1885-1890), Joseph Page (1890), Walter Gough (1890-1893), Edward E. Law (1893-1895), Evelyn Henderson (1895-1896), David Windsor (1896-1897), George Fallis (1898-1900), W. Vanduson (1900-1901), Gertrude Douglas (1901-1908), Allice Sullivan (1905), Florence Barnett (1905-1907), Winnifred Tighe (1907), Eva Sharey (1908-1909), Clara Stitt (1909-1912), Ethel Scott (1910-1916), Charles Brownson (1913), Albert Hill (1914-1916), Charlotte Lambert (1916-1917), Velma Brown (1916-1917), J. G. Johanneson (1916-1917), B. Hocekinson (1917-1918), Winnie Smallbone (1917-1918), Rhena Hicks (1917), Mrs. Brockman (1918-1919), Velma Denny (1919), J. B. Sanderson (1919-1920), Esther Liss (1919), Florence Calder (1919-1925), Isabel Calder (1920), O. McRobert (1920), H. C. Fairfield (1920-1921), M. Underwood (1921), Doris Foster (1922-1927), E. Thompson (1922), B. M. Martin (1925-1927), Madge Duncan (1925-1926), M. Peterson (1927), H. P. Merrett (1928), Grace Thompson (1928-1929), Gretta I. Cheyne (1929-1934), E. J. Stewart (1930), Marge M. Watson (1931-1934), Mabel J. Harvey (1931-1932), Muriel Sparling (1932-1934), and Mr. Wilson (1934).

Photos & Coordinates

The second St. Andrews School, built in 1851 and demolished in 1946 (no date) by H. D. Cumming Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 1. The fifth St. Andrews School building, constructed in 1927 and demolished in 1973 (no date) by H. D. Cumming Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 1. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.06684, W96.97771 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Beyond the Gates of Lower Fort Garry 1880-1981: R.M. of St. Andrews by Municipality of St. Andrews, 1982. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.S22 Bey]

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 April 2021

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