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 George Wedge (1917-1987)

1956-1960

Carl Bjarnason (1915-2014)

1960-1971

John James “Jack” Hill (1916-1977)

1971-1993

John Leslie “Les” Milne (1935-2003)

1993-2001

Robert Merrill Swayze (1942-2023)

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: 28 December 2023