The Swanford School District was organized formally in February 1936. It operated a school building on three acres of land purchased from Ed Kublick, on the southwest quarter of 24-37-26 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman. It closed in 1956, after which students in the area went to West Favelle School No. 1037, Floradale School No. 1173, Cropper Tops School No. 1186, or Craigsford School No. 1760. The former school building was renovated into a private residence but is now vacant and heavily encroached by trees. A nearby plaque erected in 1998 commemorates it.
The teachers who worked at Swanford School were Donald Florence Fulford (1936-1939), Ethel May Hinchcliffe (1939), James Ernest MacKay (1939-1940), Beatrice May Sims (1940-1941), Alice Helen Leggett (1941-1943), Betty Mary Girard (1943-1944, 1945-1946), Olga Anne Kolisnyk (1944-1945), Lydia Hart (1946-1947), Gladys Irene Jeffrey (1947-1948), Hilda Crocker (1948-1949), Vera Ruth LeDrew (1949-1950), Aura Fern Russell (1950-1953), Keith Walmsley (1953-1954), Ruby Winnifred Roe (1954-1955), and Eva Margaret Sims (1955-1956).
Swanford School (no date) by J. S. Peach
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 127.
Swanford School (April 1937)
Source: Bertha Hall
Former Swanford School building (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Swanford School building (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Swanford School building (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Swanford School commemorative monument (July 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N52.19433, W101.06081
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
Boots, Buggies & Buses: Swan Valley Schools in Quest of Education, Swan Valley School Division No. 35, circa 1998.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
We thank Bertha Hall for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 February 2021
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