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Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Oaks School District was organized formally in June 1885 and, the following year, a one-room schoolhouse was built on a one acre site at the southeast corner of SW4-3-12W in the Municipality of Louise. The original building measured 24 feet long by 18 feet wide, and 10 feet tall. It was used until the summer of 1913 after which students were paid mileage to go to their closest school, including Clearwater Consolidated School, Goudney School, and Crystal City School. The building was sold at auction.
In 1922, a $4,000 debenture was issued to build and equip a new schoolhouse. In 1929, there were enough students in the area to warrant opening a school again so a new schoolhouse was constructed and the district resumed classroom operations. It ceased classroom instruction in the summer of 1945 and again resumed sending students to the nearby districts of Goudney School, Clearwater School, Crystal Cty School, and Pilot Mound School. The district closed permanently in 1952 and the district was dissolved in 1953. Its catchment area was divided between the Clearwater Consolidated School District, Goudney School District, and Crystal City School District. The school building was moved to Pilot Mound and renovated into a private residence.
Among the teachers at The Oaks School were George Gilbert [Sr.] (Spring 1886), James Cooper Butchart (Fall 1886 - pt Fall 1887), George N. Butchart (pt Fall 1887 - Fall 1888), Jennie Gunn (Spring 1889 - Fall 1890), Jean A. Gunn (Spring 1891), Mary E. Latimer (Fall 1891), William Christopher Hartley (Spring - pt Fall 1893), Alice J. Potter (pt Fall 1893), M. McKibbin (Spring 1894 - Spring 1895), M. Vanalstein [Van Alstein?] (Fall 1895), John Burns (Spring - pt Fall 1896), Francis Henry “Frank” Belton (pt Fall 1896 - Spring 1897), Bruce Cranston (Fall 1897 - Fall 1898), Lascilles [Laxilles?] A. Cranston (Spring 1899), Margaret J. Affleck (Fall 1899 - Fall 1900, Spring-Fall 1904?, Spring-Fall 1909), records not available (Spring 1901), Nellie G. Gillespie (Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902), Marie Huchinichen? (Fall 1902), records not available (Spring 1903), Belle Perrin (Fall 1903), Thomas Addison Neelin (Spring 1905, Spring 1910), Ruth Owens (Fall 1905 - Spring 1907), Eva Grace Greenway (Fall 1907, daughter of Thomas Greenway), Hazel Kirke Greenway (Spring-Fall 1908, daughter of Thomas Greenway), Roy G???tier (pt Fall 1910), Gwen McFarlane (pt Fall 1910 - Spring 1911), Katherine E. Shannon (Fall 1911 - Spring 1912), Emma C. Hammond (Fall 1912 - Spring 1913), school not operated (Fall 1913 - Spring 1929), Hannah Balfour (Fall 1929 - Spring 1930), Jennie Elizabeth McKitrick (Fall 1930 - Spring 1933), Ellen Grace Fulcher (Fall 1933 - Spring 1937), Cora Alvena Hewitt (Fall 1937 - Spring 1940), Evelyn Muriel Young (Fall 1940 - Spring 1941), Helen Irene Leece (Fall 1941 - Spring 1943), Wilma McKay Coulthard (Fall 1943 - Spring 1944), Jessie B. Lovell (Fall 1944 - Spring 1945), and school not operated (Fall 1945 - Spring 1952, students transported to nearby districts).
A stone monument, dedicated on 23 July 1978, commemorates the school along with Thomas Bell and Daniel Stoddart who homesteaded at the site in the 1870s.
Teacher and students of The Oaks School (circa 1905)
Source: Brian McGill
The Oaks School commemorative monument (June 2015)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.17752, W99.03250
denoted by symbol on the map above
Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Board of Education meeting minutes and office files (A 0052), GR1622, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #2 School District of The Oaks, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
School division and school district formation files (E 0027), The Oaks School District No. 412, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, The Oaks School District No. 412 - Daily Registers, GR5330, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, The Oaks School District No. 412 - Daily Registers, GR3146, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, The Oaks School District No. 412 - Annual Reports, GR3146, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, The Oaks School District No. 412 - Minute Book, GR3146, Archives of Manitoba.
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.
We thank Brian McGill and Michele Ammeter for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 6 January 2024
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