Historic Sites of Manitoba: Willow Creek School No. 1138 (RM of Armstrong)

The Willow Creek School District was formally established in June 1901 and a school building was erected by Iwan and Sydor Zelenitsky on the southwest quarter of 4-19-3 east of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Armstrong. The school closed in 1963 and its students were bused to Gimli School. The district was dissolved in April 1967, its catchment area becoming part of the Evergreen School Division.

The teachers of Willow Creek School between 1925 and 1963 were Elwyn R. Clark (1925-1927, grades 1-8, 1926-1927), Violet May Thorsteinson (1926-1927, grades 1-9), Harold Arthur Bathgate (1929-1935), John Andrew Negrych (1935-1936), Peter Budzinsky (1936-1938), Michael Doroschuk (1938-1940), Anne Margaret Kereluk (1940-1941), Annie Olive Cameron (1941-1943), Rose Alexandra Rozecki (1943-1945), Alexander Jack Nickolychuk (1945-1946), Michael W. Moraz (1946-1947), Ethel Freda Howard (1947-1949), Agnes Margaret Danielson (1949-1950), Anne Margaret Zalubniak (1950-1951), Lena Maniak (1951-1952), Nazar Watcyk (1952-1954), Victor Malyk (1954-1955), Dorothy Papish (1955-1956), Susan Letandre (1956-1957), Stanley Bogucki (1957-1959), Lillian S. Wlosek (1959-1960), Oscar Gordon Mensch (1960-1962), and Elsie A. Senkow (1962-1963).

Willow Creek School (no date) by H. D. Cumming Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 65. Willow Creek School commemorative sign (June 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.59594, W97.11126 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

A History of Education in the Evergreen School Division by John C. Gottfried, MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1965.

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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

Manitoba School Records Collection (GR6124), Willow Creek School District No. 1138 Daily Registers, Archives of Manitoba.

We thank Jeneen Tomko for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 22 January 2021

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