The Weir School District was established formally in July 1885 in what is now the Rural Municipality of Oakview, named for settler John Weir, in whose log house the first classes were held. A school building was erected in the northwest quarter of 33-14-20 west of the Principal Meridian. It operated until 1908 when it was closed due to low enrollment and the remaining students went to Winterton School No. 716. It later reopened.
The school closed permanently in 1952 and its remaining students went to Basswood Consolidated School No. 1484, Moline School No. 543, Cardale Consolidated School No. 1763, or Newdale Consolidated School No. 431. The district was dissolved in 1955, usable school equipment was given to other nearby schools and the building and barn were sold. A monument was placed at the former school site in 1983 for the centenary of the municipality.
The teachers who worked at Weir School through the years included Dugald Stevenson, Blanche St. John, Jim Ellis, Joe Knight, Miss Tully, Miss Ireton, Lollie Preston, Lottie Whyte, Miss Fairburn, Ethel Whyte, Annie McTavish, Jamyes Robertson, Nellie Armit, Della Robinson, Melrose Sissons, Maude Wakely, Dora McAllister, E. E. Payne, Emma J. Black, Vera Sanders, Eva Mitchell, T. Douglas McMukin, Agnes Dudley, Lillian Hales, Alberta Hearn, Enid Elliot, Mabel G. Trott, Mary Atchison, Lois McNaught, Jean Blackburn, Zoa McIntosh, Jessie Drysdale St. John, Ida M. Brown, Joyce Cutforth, May Mauer, Jean Anderson, Mary Haslen, Margarette McNabb, Helen Lawn, Mildred M. Hackland, Isabelle Anderson Wareham, A. J. Critchley, Mary Stalker, Wilena Lochhead, Eileen A. Pratt, Lillian Hales Trott, Pearl Cowan English, Ruth Gill, Ethel Bridgeman English, Donna McNabb McDonald, Jean Soltys, Eireene Ehlin, and Ann Enns.
Weir School (no date)
Source: Newdale Historical Society
Weir School commemorative monument (August 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.24035, W100.15320
denoted by symbol on the map above
Basswood Leaves From the Past, Basswood & District Centennial, 1970. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.B38Bas]
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.
Basswood, 1878-1978: A Century of Living by Basswood and District Historical Book Society, 1980. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.B38 Bas]
We thank Duncan Waddell for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 28 December 2020
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