Historic Sites of Manitoba: Dempsey School No. 189 (Gregg, Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

The original Dempsey School District was formally established in January 1883 and a school building was erected in the southwest quarter of 35-11-14 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of North Cypress-Langord. The present school at the site, constructed in 1955, closed in September 1966 with its remaining students going to Carberry Consolidated School No. 2404. The building, now situated in the yard of a private residence, is remarkably well-preserved, with water faucets in girls and boys bathrooms, a water fountain in its hallway, a preparation room and teacher’s room, and a large classroom.

The teachers of Dempsey School were Maggie Dickie (1883), Anna McRae (1884-1885), Jessie Galbraith (1886-1889), Francis May (1890-1891), William Whillams (1891-1892), William John Nelson (1893), R. G. Martin (1894), G. A. Morrison (1895), H. W. Old (1895-1896), Allan Fallis (1896-1898), Grace Smole (July-December 1899), Maude Moore (January-June 1900), A. Baldwin (1900-1901), Howard Irvine (1901- 1902), J. S. Wray (January-April 1903), Del Wheaton (April-December 1903), Mary Walsh (August-October 1904), Nellie Laycock (November-December 1904), Mary Walsh (January-June 1905), Addie Groff (August- December 1905), E. N. McCallum (January-June 1906), Bessie McMillan (1906-1908), James W. Dempsey (August-December 1908), Ada V. Dingle (1909-1911), E. Gillbard (1911-1914), Beatrice Drummond (1914-1915), Rita W. Babb (January 1916 - December 1917), Mary Smith (1918-1919), Leila Harper (September-November 1919), Effie McKinnon (September 1919, substitute teacher), Lillian Neilson December 1919, substitute teacher), G. E. Gardiner (1920-1921), May Cumming (January-June 1922), Frances Mary Jones (1922-1923), Violet Clark (1923-1925), Norma Isaac (January-March 1926), Mary E. Clark (April-June 1926), Jean Heale (1926-1927), Annie McLaughlan (1927-1929), Wes McAmmond (1929-1934), Eva McIntyre (1934-1939), Kathleen M. Cliff (1939-1940), Iowna Campbell (1940-1942), Frances Rogers (1942-1944), B. May Manns (1944-1945), Eleanor B. Lee (1945-1947), Leota M. Reid (1947-1950), Joan Hemphill (April-June 1950), Mildred Snarr (1950-1951), Eleanor Lee (April-June 1951), Fay Sandercock (1951-1952), Hazel Bickford (1952-1953), June Cramer (1953-1955), Elaine Ranson (1955-1956), Glen McKinnon (1956-1958), Annie Lamb (1958-1960), Joanne Graham Titus (1960-1963), Violet McFarlane (1963-1965), and Gerry Ireland (1965-1966).

The original Dempsey School

The original Dempsey School (no date) by A. B. Fallis
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 67.

The former Dempsey School building

The former Dempsey School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 915.

The former Dempsey School building

The former Dempsey School building (June 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.96764, W99.29318
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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

The Carberry Plains: 75 Years of Progress. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.C36 Car]

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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

We thank Andrea Blair for providing a list of teachers at Dempsey School.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 February 2021

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