Historic Sites of Manitoba: Broadway School / Deloraine School No. 490 (Deloraine, Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester)

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Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The school district in Deloraine (in what is now the Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester) was formally established in March 1887, known initially as Broadway School until 1897 when the original Deloraine School was renamed Hazeldean School. Classes were held in a one-classroom building until 1894 when a two-classroom stone structure replaced it. By the spring of 1895, two more classrooms had been added to it and, in 1900, a fifth one completed it. The building was destroyed by fire on 7 May 1901.

The third Deloraine School building, erected and opened for service by November 1902, was a two storey, six-classroom brick structure designed by Winnipeg architect C. H. Wheeler. Student enrollment increased through the 1910s and 1920s. In May 1921, it became Deloraine Consolidated School No. 490 when it was consolidated with Kirkwood School No. 654.

By 1928, a one-storey, four-classroom building was built nearby to alleviate congestion in the earlier school. Designed by Winnipeg architect Gilbert Parfitt, it was the twin of schools at Brookdale, Ninette and Shoal Lake. The two buildings stood together until Christmas 1935 when the older school was destroyed by fire. The school board purchased a former Presbyterian church and converted it into a collegiate, named Falconer Collegiate in recognition of Thomas Falconer, a long-serving member of the board. In 1958, an addition was made to the 1928 school, including five classrooms, an auditorium with stage, staff room, principal’s office, student lockers, and modern washrooms.

Through the 1960s, rural schools in the surrounding area closed and their student were bused to Deloraine. These included Bayview School No. 454, Bidford School No. 456, Brock School No. 809, Coxworth School No. 1785, Flossie School No. 1265, Grove School No. 455, Hazeldean No. 195, Marsden School #1 No. 1247, Marsden School #2 No. 1247, Montefiore School No. 359, Mountainside School No. 248, Otter School No. 411, Regent School No. 1793, and Thirlstane School No. 483. In June 1966, it became Deloraine Consolidated School No. 2448. Dand School closed in 1970, and Goodlands and Medora were added to it five years later.

With the need for space becoming dire, a new Deloraine Collegiate building was erected in 1963 and students in grades 9 to 12 moved there, leaving grades 1 to 8 in the older building which was expanded once more, in 1968, with four classrooms (to replace portable ones that had been used in prior years), a large gymnasium, and washrooms on a lower level, and six classrooms on an upper level. Students from kindergarten to grade 6 moved to the Collegiate while students in grades 7 and 8 remained behind, being joined by ones from grades 9 to 12 from the former Collegiate.

The present school building, dating from 1963, stands on the same site as its predecessors. The school building erected in 1928 remained in use until the late 1970s. At that time, it was blocked off and sat vacant. It was demolished in the early 1980s.

Principals

Period	Principal
?-1891	Alexander Scott Rose (1858-1928)
1891-1898	?
1898-1906	David James Wright (1861-1925)
1906-1907	Norman Ewart Brett (1881-1957)
1907-1915	William Robertson Beveridge (1873-1949)
1915-1920	John Marshall Nason (1887-1963)
1920-1924	Thomas Orton Durnin (1889-1964)
1924-1934	John Alexius Peterson (c1885-1959)
1934-1935	R. J. Wolfe
1935-1940	George Harold Laycup (1902-1960)
1940-1952	William Neil Gilchrist (1908-1999)
1952-1954	Alvin Samuel Miller (1914-2004)
1954-1961	John Roland McCurdy (1923-2007)
1961-1968	Lorne W. Day
1968-1971	Chester Steven “Chet” Tesarowski (1935-2008)
1971-1973	A. Ronald Keeler
?-?	Winnifred Calverley Hainsworth (1923-2004)
?-?	Jim Wilson
?-?	Bryan Tyerman
?-?	Lyle Franklin

Teachers

School Year	Teachers
1920-1921	P. A. Gerven, G. Humber, E. McGervin

Among the other teachers of Deloraine School were B. Maude Bradshaw, Henrietta B. Herkes (1937-1938), and Myrtle Taylor Lewis.

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard of the third Deloraine School, built in 1902 (no date) by C. I. Meyers Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 72. The third Deloraine School building, opened in November 1902 and destroyed by fire in December 1935 (circa 1909) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2012-0010 The third (left) and fourth (right) Deloraine School buildings (circa 1928) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2013-0061 The fourth Deloraine School, built in 1928 and demolished in the early 1980s (no date) by George Hunter Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 72. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.19183, W100.49032 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“Deloraine’s new school,” Manitoba Free Press, 12 April 1902, page 8.

“Deloraine, Man,” Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, April 1912, Archives of Manitoba.

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

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.

Deloraine Scans a Century, Deloraine History Book Committee, 1980.

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.

We thank Tricia Tennent, Tony Franklin, and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 13 August 2023

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