Historic Sites of Manitoba: Grove School No. 455 (Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester)

The Grove School District was formally established in July 1885 and school building was erected on one acre of land in the northeast corner of 16-2-23 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester. The first teacher was Miss Mary Johnston (who later married Dr. R. S. Thornton) hired at the monthly salary of $35.

In 1907, the original school building was replaced by one of locally-produced concrete blocks manufactured by L. C. McIntosh. The new school had a filter-type cistern and a shelterbelt of trees, and later additions included a library, piano, oil heat, and a telephone. The school closed in 1921 due to low enrollment. It reopened in 1924 and operated until June 1966 when it closed permanently and remaining students were bussed to Deloraine Consolidated School No. 2448. The building was sold to local farmer Ben Bussman and the land reverted to agricultural crops.

The teachers of Grove School through the years included Mary Johnston Thornton, Georgie Reid, A. D. Gemmil, Miss Lawrie, Annie Simpson, Miss Gray, Annie M. Squair, D. A. Wick, Mr. Gahair, Mary Bell, Alice Colquhoun, Claud E. Kilborn, E. J. Thomas, Mabel Wilson, Bessie Thomas, Fanny Robertson, Miss Snider, Miss Millar, Miss Baine, Miss O'Neil, Mary Muir, Miss A. Stewart, Alice Wilson, Jean Whitlaw, Miss Rogers, Vera Clement, Mabel Price, Pearl Hogle, Annie Potter, Winnifred Potter, Mildred Tufts, Faith Hill, Jean Gunn, Jessie Hainsworth, Vivian Cuntz, Ruth MacNarry, Winnifred Calverly, Lillian Wilson, Kay Crowston, Arnold Nickle, Phyllis Dudgeon, Jean Abrahms, Annie Menard, Edna Speers, Agnes Penner, Mrs. Maxwell, Mrs. Rickard, Jean Cochrane, Janet Bauch, Lucille Millar, Carol McDonald, Mrs. Hathaway, Ada Josephson, and Selena Christianson.

Grove School (no date) by George Hunter Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 62. Grove School commemorative plaque (September 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.13209, W100.48913 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Brock School No. 809 (Municipality of Deloraine-Winchester)

MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks

Sources:

Cummin’s Rural Directory Map for Manitoba published by the Cummins Map Company, 404 Chambers of Commerce, Winnipeg, 1923. [Copies held by Edward M. Ledohowski and Gordon Goldsborough]

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: 1880-1980 by Deloraine History Book Committee, 1980, pages 139-140.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 20 April 2020

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