Historic Sites of Manitoba: Egilson School No. 1476 (Municipality of Swan Valley West)

The Egilson School District was organized formally in May 1908, named for local settler Heldor Egilson, and two years later a one-room schoolhouse opened at SE15-36-29W in what is now the Municipality of Swan Valley West. In 1924, the building was moved one mile east, to the southeast corner of SE14-36-29W. A new school building was constructed in 1960 and it operated until the the district was dissolved in 1967. The school’s catchment area became part of the Swan Valley School Division. The former school building was moved to Kenville where it was used for a time as a school. After it was no longer needed for a school, it was moved to Benito for storage space for the School Division.

The teachers of Egilson School included Kenneth Koons (1910), Alma McConnell, Loa Oliver, Frances Dahlgren, Miss Adams, Miss Mills, Miss Watson, Miss Grace Owens, Miss Anderson, Miss Alice Mitchelson, Jean Brady Alex Chandler, Miss Robinson, Mrs. Ann Sigurdson, Mrs. Sarah Vopni, Maxine Bateman, Mrs. Ben Yakelashek, and Sarah Ann Thompson.

Egilson School (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectaors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 124. Egilson School (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectaors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 124. Egilson School (no date) by J. S. Peach Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectaors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 124. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N52.08574, W101.49183 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

School District Formation Files [Egilson School District No. 1465], 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.

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

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 30 April 2021

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