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The Alexander School District was formally established in October 1884 at Alexander in the Rural Municipality of Whitehead. The first schoolhouse was built in 1886 on the south side of the railway. The 18 by 26 foot structure cost $600. A few years later, growing student enrollment necessitated the construction of a second classroom. In 1892, a three-room brick veneer building designed by Brandon architect Frederick J. Chubb was built at this site, at a cost of $2,930. Ten years later, a two-storey brick building was erected on a design by Brandon architect Walter H. Shillinglaw.
In 1945, Dalton School and Assiniboine School closed and their students came to Alexander School. In 1960, high school students were bused to Brandon, leaving only students in grades 1 to 8 at Alexander. In 1967, the Alexander School District became part of the Brandon School Division. The two-storey school was demolished sometime in the 1980s.
Period
Principal
1894-1895
Mr. Houston
1895-1898
?
1898-1899
Charles Kenning Newcombe (1877-1944)
1899-1900
John Percy Wadge (1875-1951)
1900-1904
James Boyd Morrison (1872-1941)
1904-1906
Erwin Knapp (1876-1951)
1906-1907
W. W. McDonald
1907-1909
J. H. Marsh
1909-1910
Thomas Flood Elmes (1848-1912)
1910-1912
?
1912-1914
John Stanley Hollies (1889-1916)
1914-1916
Earl Augustus Ross (1890-?)
1916-1918
Angus McNevin (1862-1923)
1918-1919
James Corrigill (1857-1922)
1919-1920
Francis Kethel “Frank” Coleridge (1865-1944)
1920-1923
Agnes Davidson
1923-1924
Ruth Parker (1894-1953)
1924-1925
Agnes Davidson (c1868-?)
1925-1929
Thomas William Ebbern (1879-1970)
1929-1932
Winnifred Dorcas Boughton (1900-?)
1932-1935
Weston Sweet (1899-1994)
1935-1938
Robert Stanley “Stan” McGill (1909-1994)
1938-1939
Walter George Crane (1906-1979)
1939-1941
Allan Alexander “Andy” Anderson (1892-1981)
1941-1942
William Harrison Lucow (1916-1986)
1942-1950
William George Hume (1902-1967)
1950-1953
Larry B. Clarke
1953-1955
J. W. Scott
1955-1959
John S. Adamack
1959-1960
L. C. Jackson
1960-1969
?
1969-1970
J. Braun
1970-1973
1973-1983
?
1983-1988
Paul Curtis
1988-?
Murray MacMillan
School Year
Teachers
1886-1887
?
1887-1888
?
1888-1889
?
1889-1890
?
1890-1891
?
1891-1892
?
1892-1893
Miss E. S. D. Gustin, Andrew McBride, E. A. Osterhont
1893-1894
?
1894-1895
Nellie McBride, Miss Pollard
1895-1896
?
1896-1897
?
1897-1898
?
1898-1899
?
1899-1900
?
1900-1901
?
1901-1902
?
1902-1903
?
1903-1904
?
1904-1905
?
1905-1906
?
1906-1907
?
1907-1908
?
1908-1909
?
1909-1910
?
1910-1911
?
1911-1912
?
1912-1913
?
1913-1914
?
1914-1915
?
1915-1916
?
1916-1917
?
1917-1918
?
1918-1919
?
1919-1920
?
1920-1921
M. M. Blowers, Miss K. E. Boyes, M. Bradley, A. Chambers, M. Demman, B. Norton, D. A. Robinson
1921-1922
?
1922-1923
?
1923-1924
?
1924-1925
?
1925-1926
?
1926-1927
?
1927-1928
?
1928-1929
?
1929-1930
?
1930-1931
?
1931-1932
?
1932-1933
?
1933-1934
?
1934-1935
?
1935-1936
?
1936-1937
?
1937-1938
?
1938-1939
?
1939-1940
Mary Hume (grade 8), ?
Among the other teachers of Alexander School were Miss Jessie Way (1886), Miss Margaret McBride (1880s), and Dorothy Mae Strath (1940s).
The third Alexander School building, constructed in 1912 (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 32.Alexander School (June 1967)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey, Alexander.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.83019, W100.28871
denoted by symbol on the map above
[Tenders - Alexander School], Brandon Weekly Sun, 25 August 1892, page 5.
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
“Alexander, Man”, Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, 19 August 1919, Archives of Manitoba.
“Teachers at the convention,” Brandon Sun, 15 October 1920, page 6.
“Brandon school teachers for 1959-60,” Brandon Sun, 29 August 1959, page 2.
“Appointment,” Brandon Sun, 16 December 1970, page 5.
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.
Whitehead Wanderings, 1883-1983 by Whitehead-Alexander Centennial Committee, 1983. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.W53 Whi]
“Board approves principals,” Brandon Sun, 30 April 1988, page 3.
“Forty years ago,” Brandon Sun, 16 December 2010, page 13.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
We thank Malcolm Bell, Nathan Kramer, Anna Birtles, and Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 7 April 2024
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