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The Stonewall School District was established formally in November 1880 and the first schoolhouse, a building measuring 24 by 36 feet and housing 88 students, sat on Fourth Street East, north of Second Avenue, in Stonewall. As the demand for education grew, classes were held in the Rockwood Registry office at 237 Second Avenue North and, later, in the Orange Hall. Still later, overflow students were moved to the Masonic Hall on First Street East.
In 1891, a four-classroom brick veneer building at a site to the south of Second Avenue North was designed by Winnipeg architect Walter Chesterton was constructed by Murray and McDiarmid. By 1905, it was facing severe overcrowding so a second four-classroom building, made of local stone, was designed by Winnipeg architect Frank Robert Evans and built near the first school by John Gunn and Sons in 1907. It opened officially on 28 January 1908.
The original brick building was used until it closed in 1955 and was demolished in 1957. It was replaced by a new brick school for grades 1 to 8, designed by the Winnipeg architectural firm of Smith Carter and Katelnikoff and built by Malcom Construction. It was named R. W. Bobby Bend School for educator and politician Robert William “Bobby” Bend. An addition to the building was made in 1983.
Students in grades 9 to 12 were taught in the stone school until 1961 when they moved to the newly constructed Stonewall Collegiate. The stone building was demolished in June 1980.
A monument in front of the present school building, unveiled in 1994, commemorates the two earlier schools.
Period
Principal
1890-1891
Charles S. Lyons
1891-1893
William Joseph Cram (1861-1940)
1893-1894
J. A. Lewis
1894
Robert Moir
1895-1896
William Thompson Shipley (1870-1922)
1897-1898
John Percy Wadge (1875-1951)
1898-1899
Thomas Lewis Arnett (1873-1952)
1899-1901
Christopher Roscoe “Rossie” Brown (1868-1946)
1901-1907
William Christopher Hartley (1869-1936)
1907-1909
W. E. Edmonds
1909-1913
Eugene Charles Davis (1888-1969)
1913-1915
Lloyl Truman Hayward (1880-1969)
1915-1923
Samuel Burland (1880-1972)
1923-1929
Eli Robinson
1929-1932
John Osborn Wilson (1900-1972)
1932-1936
John Leslie “Jack” Morrow (1896-1989)
1936-1939
Cornelius Calvin Neufeld (1906-1977)
1939-1940
Thomas William Ebbern (1879-1970)
1940-1941
James Ogel Beckstead (1883-1985)
1941-1943
Arthur Kendall Stratton (1895-1961)
1943-1955
Robert William “Bobby” Bend (1914-1999)
1955-1956
Arthur Cecil Diehl (1910-1990)
1956-1957
Allan M. Johnson
1957-1959
C. Bergen
1959-1961
Gordon K. Breckman
Period
Vice-Principal
1908-1910
J. C. Duncan
School Year
Teachers
1887-1888
William L. Mussell, Miss Ida Shafer
1888-1889
Mr. Page, Miss Ida Shafer
1889-1890
Frederick Langdon Davis, Miss Maude Morgan, Miss Ida Shafer
1890-1891
E. W. Montgomery, Miss Ida Shafer
1891-1892
Miss Ida Shafer
1892-1893
J. A. Lewis (senior grades, Spring), Miss Nellie Moore, Miss Ida Thompson
1893-1894
Margaret Arnett, Harriet Henderson (Spring), J. A. Lewis (senior grades), Miss Nellie Moore, Miss Ida Thompson
1894-1895
Maggie Arnett, Harriet Henderson (Fall), Miss Violet Kyle (?), Robert Clair Moir (senior grades, Fall), Nellie Moore, William Thompson Shipley (senior grades, Spring)
1895-1896
Maggie Arnett, Miss Hall (?), May Montgomery (spring), Nellie Moore (Fall), Olivia R. Parriott, William Thompson Shipley (senior grades), Helen Scarry [Storey?] (Fall)
1896-1897
Alice Bowen [Bowman?], Ethel May Hall, May Montgomery, William Thompson Shipley (senior grades, Fall), ? (senior grades, Spring)
1897-1898
Miss Bowman, Miss Cameron, Miss Hall, Miss May Montgomery
1898-1899
Miss Cameron, Miss Hall, Miss Laura Little, Miss May Montgomery, Miss Julia Peach
1899-1900
Miss Cameron, Miss Laura Little, Miss Julia Peach, Miss Skettle
1900-1901
Miss Cameron, Miss Laura Little, Miss Julia Peach, Miss Thornton
1901-1902
Miss Cameron, Miss Lightcap, Miss Laura Little, Miss Marnie, Miss Julia Peach, Miss Thornton
1902-1903
Miss Argue, Mr. Brown, Miss Lightcap, Miss Julia Peach
1903-1904
Miss Argue, Miss Lightcap, Miss McCauley, Miss Julia Peach
1904-1905
Miss Argue, Miss Cole, Miss A. Corbett, Miss Lightcap, Miss McCauley, Miss Belle Smith
1905-1906
Miss Brown, Miss Cable, Miss Alice E. Cooper, Miss A. Corbett, Miss Eileen Elliott, Miss Huggins
1906-1907
Miss Cable, Miss Card, Miss Alice E. Cooper (grades 4-6), Miss Eileen Elliott (grades 3-4), Miss Jennie Montgomery (grades 1-3)
1907-1908
Miss Card, Miss Alice E. Cooper, Miss Eileen Elliott, Miss Jennie Montgomery
1908-1909
Miss Card (grade 1), Miss Alice E. Cooper (grades 4-5), Miss Eileen Elliott (grades 6-7), Miss Jennie Montgomery, Miss L. Patrick (grades 2-3)
1909-1910
Miss Card, Miss Alice E. Cooper, Miss Eileen Elliott, Miss Jennie Montgomery, Miss L. Patrick
1910-1911
Miss Card, Miss Alice E. Cooper, Eugene Charles Davis (high school grades), Miss Eileen Elliott, Miss Jennie Montgomery, Miss Rutherford, Alice Shaver (high school grades)
1911-1912
?
1912-1913
?
1913-1914
?
1914-1915
?
1915-1916
?
1916-1917
?
1917-1918
?
1918-1919
?
1919-1920
?
1920-1921
Daniel Frederick “Fred” McNeill, Barbara Stratton (grade 7)
1921-1922
Eli Robinson (grade 8)
1922-1923
?
1923-1924
?
1924-1925
?
1925-1926
?
1926-1927
?
1927-1928
?
1928-1929
?
1929-1930
?
1930-1931
?
1931-1932
?
1932-1933
?
1933-1934
1934-1935
?
1935-1936
?
1936-1937
?
1937-1938
?
1938-1939
?
1939-1940
?
1940-1941
?
1941-1942
?
1942-1943
?
1943-1944
?
1944-1945
?
1945-1946
?
1946-1947
?
1947-1948
?
1948-1949
?
1949-1950
?
1950-1951
?
1951-1952
?
1952-1953
Sam Donen, ?
1953-1954
?
1954-1955
Robert William “Bobby” Bend (grade 12), Claudia Ruth Doern (grades 4-5), Annie Margaret Gillies (grade 10), Eleanor Margaret Handley (grade 1), Patricia Anne Larson (grade 9), Walter Phillip Matthewson (grades 7-8), Louise McPhedran (grade 11), Violet Beatrice Paterson (grades 3-4), John Senkiw (grades 6-7), Marian Florence Senkiw (grade 2)
Among the other teachers at Stonewall School were John Vanderstoel, Robert Cameron Mulligan, D. Ruth Matheson, Sara Elizabeth Buchanan, Jane A. Nisbet, Walter C. Bilych, Lionel T. Glaser, Ruby Arndt, and Ronald Morris Bean.
The newly constructed stone building of Stonewall School with the earlier brick veneer building in the background (circa 1907)
Source: Education Department Report, 1907, Manitoba Legislative Library.
Stone building of Stonewall School (no date)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, George Harris Fonds, Acc. 1979-141, P7447, Album 4, Page 23.
Stone building of Stonewall School (August 1966)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Lewkowich Collection 17.
Stonewall School commemorative monument beside the R. W. Bobby Bend School building (May 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.13782, W97.32539
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Robert William “Bobby” Bend (1914-1999)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Stonewall Collegiate (297 Fifth Street West, Stonewall)
Manitoba Business: Smith Carter and Katelnikoff / Smith Carter Architects and Engineers / Architecture49
“Past Memories [Thirty years ago - 1910],” Stonewall Argus, 28 August 1940, page 4.
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
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.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Stonewall School District No. 108 Daily Registers, GR2044, Archives of Manitoba.
“Tender notice [Stonewall School],” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 August 1955, page 28.
School Days, School Days: Stonewall Collegiate, 1891-1961 by Ernie Webb and Joyce Rose, Stonewall, c1994.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 March 2024
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