Historic Sites of Manitoba: Winnipeg Beach School No. 1331 (Churchill Road, Winnipeg Beach)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Winnipeg Beach School District was formally established in March 1905 and a one-room wood frame school building was erected in the Town of Winnipeg Beach. Three rooms were added to the original structure in 1920, which was used until 1946. To accommodate a rise in student enrollment after the Second World War, a separate one-room building (known as “The Apple Box”) was constructed immediately north of the main building, in 1946. As enrollment continued to rise, space was rented in the Town Hall. Finally, in 1949, a modern six-classroom wood frame building was built and the old school was demolished. Three years later, an influx of military personnel to the area necessitate the use of The Apple Box for classes.

Winnipeg Beach School reverted to an elementary school in 1959, as high school students were bused to Gimli. In April 1967, the school was closed. A monument on the former school site was unveiled during a reunion on 24 July 1988, and rededicated at another reunion in July 2001.

Principals

Period	Principal
1920-1921	Fred Bowsfield
1921-1923	D. Fred McNeill
1923-1924	Ilo Elizabeth McHaffie McDonald (1899-1988)
1924-1925	Robert MacLaren Keswick (1894-1938)
1925-1929	John Sigfus Helgason (?-1978)
1929-1932	Benjamin Franklin Olson (1898-1981)
1932-1938	?
1938-1939	Charles Manly Belton (c1909-1990)
1939-1940	?
1940-1942	John Saxby “Jack” Oliver (1910-1992)
1942-1944	James Andrew McKaughan (1877-1968)
1944-1959	John Edward “Jack” Dawson (c1912-1982)
1959-1960	J. Keryluk
1960-1961	M. Onyschuk
1961-?	Mr. K. Hladun

Teachers

Among the teachers of Winnipeg Beach School was Amy Jean Mitchell.

Photos & Coordinates

Winnipeg Beach School (no date) by H. D. Cumming Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 99. Postcard view of the first Winnipeg Beach School (circa 1941) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2012-0036 Postcard view of the second Winnipeg Beach School (no date) Source: Angela Birt Winnipeg Beach School commemorative monument (June 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.49497, W96.97019 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“Winnipeg Beach, Man”, Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, July 1915, Archives of Manitoba.

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

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.

We thank Nathan Kramer and Angela Birt for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 September 2021

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