Manitoba Organization: Brandon School Division No. 40

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Board Chairs | Superintendents | Schools | Sources

Until 1890, Brandon had separate Protestant and Catholic School Boards that operated schools in their respective religious denominations. They were merged into a single Board in 1890.

The Brandon School Division was created on 1 April 1959 by an order of the Manitoba Minister of Education, acting on a recommendation of the MacFarlane Commission on Education and the School Divisions Boundaries Commission. It became responsible for all secondary education, grades 9 to 12, within the area of the following school districts:

Ward	School Districts
1	Brandon School District No. 129
2	Alexander School District No. 338 Assiniboine School District No. 148 Bloomsbury School District No. 467 Dalton School District No. 459 Griswold School District No. 425 Kemnay School District No. 444 Gardner School District No. 619 Poplar Hill School District No. 479 Robert Burns School District No. 704
3	Aweme School District No. 434 Beecher School District No. 2354 Blyth School District No. 471 Brandon Hills School District No. 138 Cornwallis School District No. 187 Curries Landing School District No. 183 East Brandon School District No. 165 Glen Souris School District No. 209 Gorrie School District No. 365 Grand Valley School District No. 206 Lawrence School District No. 364 Leslie School District No. 2120 Little Souris School District No. 227 Roseland School District No. 277 Shilo Siding School District No. 1973 South Brandon School District No. 596

Protestant Board Chairs (1882-1890)

Term	Chair
1882-1883	William Winter (c1840-?)
1884	Thomas Lockhart (1833-?)
1885	Stephen Clement (1831-1901)
1886	John A. Christie (1840-1920)
1887	John Russell (c1850-1905)
1888-1889	Stephen Clement (1831-1901)
1890	John A. Christie (1840-1920)

Catholic Board Chairs (1883-1890)

Term	Chair
1883-1890	?

Board Chairs

Term	Chair
1890-1899	John A. Christie (1840-1920)
1900-1901	Robert Darrach (1855-1943)
1902-1903	William M. Alexander
1904-1905	Robert M. Matheson (1868-1945)
1906-1907	John Angus Macdonald (1862-?)
1908-1909	Andrew Douglas Rankin (1860-?)
1910	H. Sampson
1911	David Shirriff (1846-1931)
1912-1913	John Scott Maxwell (1862-1933)
1914-1915	Joseph Cornell (1862-1943)
1916	John Sutherland Matheson (1873-1942)
1917-1918	David M. Creighton
1919-1920	Angus Tyndall Condell (1869-?)
1921-1923	George Arthur Fitton (1875-1956)
1924	John Sutherland Matheson (1873-1942)
1925	W. N. Sutherland
1926-1927	Robert J. Bullard
1928-1929	John Popkin
1930-1931	John Sutherland Matheson (1873-1942)
1932-1956	George Arthur Fitton (1875-1956)
1957-1958	G. P. Sutherland
1959-1960	Elwood Clinton Gorrie (1915-2002)
1961-1963	Alvin Chown Hamilton (1926-2014)
1964-1970	Kenneth John Burgess (1928-2005)
1971-1973	A. Lindenberg
1974-1980	Mr. G. T. Williams
1980-1981	Mr. K. G. Knight
1982-1983	Mr. G. T. Williams
1984-1986	Mrs. M. G. Murray
1986-1989	Mr. L. J. Clermont
1990-1992	Mr. G. B. Sefton
1992-1993	Mrs. L. Morling
1993-1995	Mrs. L. Fjeldsted
1995-1998	Mr. D. Paterson
1998-2002	Mr. J. Murray
2002-2011	?
2011-2016	Mark Sefton
2016-?	Kevan Sumner

Superintendents

Term	Superintendent
1905-1908	Alexander Scott Rose (1858-1928)
1908-1922	Alfred White (1869-1955)
1922-1924	C. W. Webb (?-?)
1924-1950	Thomas Addison Neelin (1882-1970)
1950-1956	Henry G. Wedge
1956-1960	Carl Bjarnason (1915-2014)
1960-1971	John James “Jack” Hill (1916-1977)
1971-1993	John Leslie “Les” Milne (1935-2003)

Schools

The following are schools that have operated in the Division since its inception, although not all of them are currently in operation, and few are based in their original buildings.

Alexandra School (College Avenue)

Betty Gibson School (701 Twelfth Street)

Brandon Collegiate Institute / New Era School (527 Louise Avenue)

David Livingstone School (1303 Assiniboine Avenue)

Earl Haig School (First Street)

Earl Oxford School (540 Eighteenth Street)

East Ward School (200 Fourth Street)

Fleming School (2320 Louise Avenue)

George Fitton School (1129 Third Street)

Green Acres School (335 Queens Avenue East)

Greenwood School (Shilo, Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

Harrison High School / Harrison Junior High School (415 Queens Avenue)

J. R. Reid School (813 Twenty-Sixth Street)

King George School (430 Victoria Avenue East)

Kirkcaldy Heights School (10 Knowlton Drive)

Linden Lanes School (49 Silver Birch Drive)

McLaren School (1031 Sixth Street)

McTavish School (603 Eleventh Street)

Meadows School (1220 Twenty-Second Street)

Neelin High School (1020 Brandon Avenue)

New Central School (Lorne Avenue)

O’Kelly School (Shilo, Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

Old Central School (Tenth Street)

Park School / West Ward School (Lorne Avenue)

Princess Elizabeth School (Shilo, Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

Riverheights School (32 E. Fotheringham Drive)

St. Augustine School (330 Third Street)

Valleyview School (65 Whillier Drive)

Vincent Massey High School (715 McDiarmid Drive)

Waverly Park School (3800 Park Avenue)

See also:

In the Image of Ontario: Public Schools in Brandon 1881-1890 by Tom Mitchell
Manitoba History, Number 12, Autumn 1986

Events in Manitoba History: Brandon Ultimatum (1 May 1922)

Events in Manitoba History: School Divisions (1959)

Events in Manitoba History: Manitoba’s Rural School Consolidation (1905-1967)

Events in Manitoba History: School Divisions Boundaries Commission (1958-1959)

Events in Manitoba History: MacFarlane Royal Commission on Education (1957-1959)

Winnipeg School Division No. 1

Sources:

“Names of Brandon schools,” Brandon Sun, 6 October 1959, page 4.

Report of the School Divisions Boundaries Commission, 13 January 1959, Manitoba Legislative Library, SpR 1958 Education.

We thank Tom Mitchell for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 2 May 2022