Historic Sites of Manitoba: Chater School No. 181 (Chater, RM of Cornwallis)

The map location shown for this Historic Site of Manitoba is APPROXIMATE.
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The Chater School District was formally established in July 1884, in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, with a wood frame school building erected at NE27-10-18W. In 1906, the original schoolhouse was replaced by a new building made of concrete blocks and the original one was sold at auction. It closed in June 1966. The former school building was used as a community centre until 1973 when it was demolished and replaced on the site by a private residence. Records for the Chater School District are held at the S. J. McKee Archives.

Among the teachers of Chater School were Coleena Fraser (1883-1884), Miss Bradford (1885), Miss Cleverly (1904), Miss McNabb (1905), Miss Gray (1906), Miss Moor (1907), Miss Harper (1908), Miss Quail (1908-1909), Miss Mabel Johnson (1910-1913, 1915), R. Burroughs (1914), Elva W. Wright (1916), Flora McGregor (1916-1917), L. Florence Webster (1917-1918), Hattie A. Paisley (1918-1919), Zella I. Collins (1919-1920), Lauretta B. Ross (1920-1921), Audrey G. Page (1921-1922), Eleanor M. Robertson (1922-1923), Harriet E. Anderson (1924-1926), F. E. Coleridge (1926-1927), Mabel J. Sinclair (1927-1928), Elta Kennedy (1928), Gladys Nesbitt (1928-1929), Mossie E. Noble (1929-1932), Betty Gibson (1933-1934), Jack H. Gibson (1936-1937), Muriel M. Bell (1937-1938), Phyllis R. Sutherland (1938-1939), Joan Pettipher (1940-1941), Mary Eileen Williams (1941-1942), A. R. Greaves (1943-1944), Lorna Mae Tapp (1944-1945), Olga Hasiuk (1945-1946), Miss Bernice A. Lockhead (1947-1949), Joan Stinson Suderman (1950-1952), Roxanna Bawdon (1957-1958), Dorothy Downes (1954-1955), and Mrs. I. Brownlee (1965-1966).

Other teachers for whom the period of service is unknown included Miss Baynton, Miss Young, Mr. Gerow, Hazel Rogers, M. McKenzie, A. McTaggart, Ab. Richardson, D. Brown, and H. Gunn.

Students in front of Chater School

Students in front of Chater School (1885)
Source: Magnacca Collection, Daly House Museum

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.86720, W99.83345
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“Teachers at the convention,” Brandon Sun, 15 October 1920, page 6.

School District Formation Files [Chater School District No. 181], GR1688, E0027, Archives of Manitoba.

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.

Municipal Memories by Cornwallis Centennial Committee, circa 1984.

We thank Eileen Trott (Daly House Museum) for providing a photograph of Chater School, and Brenda Suderman and Ava O’Donnell for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 9 December 2020

Historic Sites of Manitoba

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