The St. Mary’s School District was organized formally in July 1885 and a school building was erected the following year on the southwest quarter of 30-20-26 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Rural Municipality of Riding Mountain West. It closed in January 1967 and remaining students went to Angus School No. 1487. The building, converted to a granary, still remains at the site and a monument dedicated in 1984 stands nearby.
Among the teachers of St. Mary’s School was Peter Melnyk (1950s).
The original St. Mary’s School (no date) by G. W. Bartlett
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 60.
St. Mary’s School (circa 1934)
Source: Education Department Report, 1934, Manitoba Legislative Library.
The former St. Mary’s School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1254.
The former St. Mary’s School building and commemorative monument (June 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former St. Mary’s School building (June 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former St. Mary’s School building (November 2023)
Source: Tom Struthers
The former St. Mary’s School building (November 2023)
Source: Tom Struthers
St. Mary’s School commemorative monument (November 2023)
Source: Tom StruthersSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.74208, W101.08954
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Silver Creek Centennial Monument (Angusville, RM of Riding Mountain West)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Mary’s School (St. Mary Avenue, Winnipeg)
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.
Obituary [Peter Melnyk], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 March 2022.
We thank Tom Struthers for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 14 November 2023
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