Historic Sites of Manitoba: Tobacco Creek School No. 808 (RM of Thompson)

The Tobacco Creek School District was organized in March 1894 and a one-room schoolhouse was constructed at NE29-5-5 west of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Thompson. In 1927, the school was moved to a two-acre site south of Tobacco Creek, the old building was sold at auction and a new structure was constructed. This building was destroyed by fire on 25 December 1952. A local residence was moved to the site as a temporary school while a replacement was built. It opened in 1953. Student enrollment dwindled through the 1950s and the school closed permanently in June 1959, after which students were bused to Rosebank School. The building was moved to Carman where it was converted into the Jehovah's Witness Hall. The district was dissolved in 1961. In June 1985, a monument was unveiled at the former school site.

Among the teachers who worked at Tobacco Creek School were Miss M. E. Thomas (1894-1895), Miss E. Campbell (1895), Margaret Calder (1895-1896), William Yuill (1896-1897), Barbara Stratton (1897), Kate Lucy (1898), Miss M. Hugg (1898), Mary E. Campbell (1899-1900), Albert Malcolmson (1900), Eunice Saunderson (1901-1902), John A. Weir (1902-1903), Clara Galloway (1903-1905), Anna Hutchinson (1905), Eva Fraser (1906), Miss Berry (1907), Miss Allen (1908), Dora Faryon (1909-1911), Del Wheaton (1911-1912), Doubleday (1912), Sydney H. Sutton (1913), Annie Phillips (1914-1915), Miss McDonald (1915), Minnie Sanderson (1916-1917), Frances Stevenson (1917-1919), Miss Roe (1919-1920), Edna Matheson (1920), Miss Hurton (1920-1921), Mr. E. B. Wiltse (1921-1922), Edith Spurway (1922-1923), Jean Richardson (1923-1924), Viola Uldine Lang (1924-1926), J. Fred Woods (1926-1928), Edna Robertson (1929), Miss E. O. Lewarton (1929), Gwen Sanders (1929-1931), Adelaide Johnston (1931-1936), Miss Sprott (1936-1937), Miss Pinn (1937-1938), Elizabeth McIvor (1938-1941), Verna Todd (1941-1942), Deane McMillan (1942-1943), Jean Jackson (1943-1944), Beatrice Fraser (1944-1945), Mary Taylor (1945-1947), Fern Banting Gibson (1947-1950, 1957-1959), Boris Fedak (1950-1952), Gladys Howie (1952-1954), Joan Hodgson Goldsborough (1954-1955), Wilma Skeavington (1955-1957), and Fern Banting Gibson (1957-1959).

Tobacco Creek School (circa 1927) Source: Education Department Report, 1927, Manitoba Legislative Library. Tobacco Creek School (no date) by A. J. Manning Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 3. Tobacco Creek School commemorative monument (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.42571, W98.09261 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Tobacco Creek School No. 808 by Nevae Sylvester and Dorothy Sylvester

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.

Miami & R. M. of Thompson Chronicles by Thompson History Book Committee, c1998. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.M50Mia]

We thank Joan H. Goldsborough and Dorothy Sylvester for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 August 2023

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