In 1872, the first European settlers to this region of Manitoba arrived at a site where a Red River Cart trail crossed the Whitemud River, establishing a community that they named Second Crossing, in what became known as the Municipality of WestLake-Gladstone. Two years later, it was renamed Woodside due to the abundance of wood nearby. At one time, Woodside had daily train service, a railway station and loading platform, stock yards, section house, two stores, school, and post office.
The Woodside School District was established here in December 1872. The district was dissolved in 1967 when its catchment area became part of the Gladstone Consolidated School District. The school closed in 1968 and the building is no longer present at the site. By 1992, when a monument was erected at this site, only the Woodside post office remained and it closed the following year.
Among the teachers of Woodside School were Donald Allan MacLean (1884), Miss Hamilton (1898), Miss Leech (1899), Miss Lough (?), Thomas Alexander Crerar (?), Miss Langton (1905-1906), Miss Stephens (1906), Miss McPherson (1906-1907), I. H. Bell (1907-1908), J. Sutherland (1909), Miss F. Miller (1910), Asta Austmann (1910-1911), E. J. Simpson (1911), Mrs. A. Taylor (1911), Miss M. Johnston (1912), Miss Lena Powell (1912), Miss E. Wocks (1912-1913), Miss E. “Georgie” George (1914), Margaret Mustard Doan (1914), Miss E. Montgomery (1914-1915), Miss E. McFadyen (1915), Miss K. McInnis (1915-1916), Miss M. Hyndman (1916), Miss Vivian Atkinson (1917-1918), Miss Brown (1918), Miss Butler (1918), Miss Lillie McKenzie (1918), Lillie McKenzie Keyes (1918), Ethel Williams Riches (1918), ? Armstrong (1919), L. J. McMillan (1920-1922), ? McCaffery (1922), Margaret Polson Bjarnarson (1922-1924), Vi Daigle Staples (1924-1927), Miss Fersanko (?), Miss W. E. Gentry (1928), Muriel A. Paynter (1929-1930), Muriel Smith McCombe (1930-1932), Evelyn D. Cox (1932-1936), Bertha Elliot Wood (1936-1940), Carrie Stratton McBride (1940-1941), Isobel Wilson McKillop (1941-1944), Lillian Ferguson Greer (1944-1945), Dorothy Boyd Blair (1945-1947, 1948-1950, 1955-1957), Dallas Taylor (1947-1948), Nellie Keast (1947-1948, 1950-1952), Anne Herman (1952-1953), Emily Paswisty (1953-1954), Clifford Glenn (1954-1955), Sarah E. Purkess (1957-1960), Jean McClelland Forsman (1960-1961), Leila Duffin (1961-1962, 1963-1964), Mary Beaudin (1962-1963), and Betty Oliver (1964-1968).
Woodside School (no date) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 7.
Second Crossing / Woodside commemorative monument (August 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.18067, W98.76767
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
Golden Memories: Steel Bridge, Woodside, Golden Stream, Palestine by History Book Committee, 1980, pages 357-366.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 30 September 2024
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