Historic Sites of Manitoba: Avonlea School No. 1606 (Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman)

The Avonlea School District was organized formally in February 1912. It operated a one-room wood frame school building on the northeast quarter of 7-37-26 west of the Principal Meridian in what is now the Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman. At some point, the original building was replaced by one with a full basement, heated by an oil-fueled furnace. It closed in June 1964. The school building is no longer present at the site but a stone cairn, erected in 1978, commemorates it.

Teachers who worked at Avonlea School through the years included: Mamie Jordan (1914), Miss Macraw, Miss Stewart, Miss Eldred, Elsie Gowanlock, Miss Robinson, Stella Fraser, Miss Motherall, Florence Grant (1924), Ilene Evendon (1928), Beatrice Fletcher (1933-1934), Mildred Haackland (1934-1935), Lucy Brown (1935-1936), Dorothy Baskerville (1936-1940), Muriel Wilson (1940-1941), Gwen Gohl (1942), Elizabeth Joan Twilley (1944-1946, daughter of Frederick Arthur Twilley), Sally Lussier (1946-1947), Evelyn Clarke (1947-1948), Leona Dixon (1948-1949), Olga Lund, Georgina Krone, Isabella Hill (1953-1954), Pat Harkins (1953-1954), Cecil Cox (1953-1954), Belva Allen (1954-1955), Shirley Madill (1955-1957), Clara Watson (1957-1958), Elizabeth Snelgrove (1958-1959), Euphemia Dunnett (1959-1961), and Alice Stozak (1961-1964).

The first Avonlea School (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 1. The second Avonlea School (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 1. Avonlea School commemorative monument (July 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N52.17237, W101.15650 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Avon School No. 1989 (RM of DeSalaberry)

Sources:

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.

Boots, Buggies & Buses: Swan Valley Schools in Quest of Education, Swan Valley School Division No. 35, circa 1998.

We thank Pat Miles for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 27 May 2020

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