Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Arden School District was formally established in October 1884 and a school building was erected three years later, in June 1887, at this site in the village of Arden, in the Rural Municipality of Lansdowne. It burned in 1890 and was replaced.
As settlement in the Arden area hastened through the early 20th century, a second school building was erected in 1909. As the consolidation movement continued, the school became Arden Consolidated School No. 341, in October 1919. Another building, known as the “Little School,” was built in 1920 on a design by Winnipeg architect E. D. Tuttle. By 1939, the school comprised three buildings, with grades 1 and 2 in the Little School, grades 3 to 5 in the “Middle School”, and grades 6 to 12 in the “High School”.
A new school building opened in 1954 and the Little School was moved to its present location on the south side of the Arden municipal office as a Seniors Centre. The Middle School became a private residence, first at Neepawa and later at Onanole. The High School building fell apart when an attempt was made to move it, and its parts were incorporated into several buildings around Arden. The new school operated until June 2001 when students began to be bused to Neepawa.
A monument commemorating the Arden school was dedicated at a ceremony on 14 October 2007. Its base is constructed from locally made concrete blocks recovered from a nearby derelict farmhouse.
Period
Principal
1906-1907
J. H. Marsh
1907-1910
George Wesley Bartlett (1876-1950)
1910-1912
?
1912-1913
H. P. McPhail
1913-1915
Frederick H. Burkholder (1888-?)
1915-1917
Victor Harvey Hugo (1888-1972)
1917-1918
John E. Gillanters
1918-1919
Kathleen Farrell
1919-1920
Edward Sandford Lord (1869-1922)
1920-1921
Louise Anne Foreman Elliott (1894-1974)
1921-1923
J. E. Ridd
1923-1925
Percival Beresford Bennett (1884-1954)
1925-1927
James Clark Whenham (1896-1970)
1927-1928
Hazel Arretta Vandecar Foster (1897-1990)
1928-1929
Vivian Clarkson “Clark” Hardy (1897-1982)
1929-1936
Walter Fahrig (1889-1937)
1936-1939
George Scott Belton (1904-1967)
1939-1945
Elmenia Jean Mollard (1901-1991)
1945-1948
Henry Lambert Williams (1890-1976)
1948-1951
Abiah Davies Morgan (1899-1967)
1951-1952
Bodvar Jon Skuli Bodvarson (1911-1972)
1952-1955
Benjamin Foreman (c1898-1981)
1955-1956
Glenn Homer Turner (1912-1987)
1956-1957
Frederick C. Mongeon
1957-1958
Peter Jacob Olchowecki (1911-2011)
1958-1961
Harold Edgar Woods
1961-1962
Irma Sirett
1962-1965
Joseph Grodecki (1925-2011)
1965-1966
E. Dunsmore
1966-1969
Cecil McCullough
1969-1973
L. Boychuk
Among the other teachers at Arden School were Hugh McCamis (1887), Jean Isabel Wellwood, John E. Ridd (1920s), Karl E. Chambers (late 1920s), John Maxwell “Jack” McGilvray (1930-1934), Margaret Eames (early 1940s), Mrs. H. Thompson (1953), A. E. N. Carnochan (1956-1957), and Ruth Emisch (1967-1973).
Arden School (circa 1908)
Source: Rob McInnes, MN0633.The Arden School consisted of the three building to the right of the church at left (circa 1930) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 32.Arden School monument (July 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.27739, W99.26704
denoted by symbol on the map above
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
“Arden, Man”, Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, July 1918, Archives of Manitoba.
“Langruth news,” Portage la Prairie Leader, 3 September 1953, page 11.
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.
Over the Rainbow: Memories of a Country School Teacher by Ruth Emisch, 1993.
“Keep in touch” by Keith Boughton, Retired Teachers Association of Manitoba, Winter 2008, www.ardenmb.ca/history/schoolcairn.htm.
We thank Tracey Winthrop-Meyers, Rob McInnes, Nathan Kramer, Edith Burnside, and Bob McCamis for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 24 December 2023
Historic Sites of Manitoba
This is a collection of historic sites in Manitoba compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. The information is offered for historical interest only.
Browse lists of:
Museums/Archives | Buildings | Monuments | Cemeteries | Locations | OtherInclusion in this collection does not confer special status or protection. Official heritage designation may only come from municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Some sites are on private property and permission to visit must be secured from the owner.
Site information is provided by the Manitoba Historical Society as a free public service only for non-commercial purposes.
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the MHS Webmaster at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.Help us keep history alive!