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Located in the Windsor Park neighbourhood of St. Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), this school was designed by architect Étienne-Joseph “Steve” Gaboury of Gaboury Lussier Sigurdson Architects in 1965 under the working name of Harper Elementary School. It was built by Triple L Construction in 1965 for the St. Boniface School Division.
It opened as Howden School in commemoration of John Power Howden, a long-serving Member of Parliament (1926-1945), Senator, and local physician. The original building of 12 classrooms was further expanded in 1967, again based upon designs of Gaboury, doubling the classroom count with the addition of 12 more classrooms and adding a gymnasium, at combined cost of $280,000.
In 1979, trustees of St. Boniface School Board voted three to one in favour of expanding the French immersion program and extending it to Howden School. The decision was unpopular with the local community and was met with a petition of 1,900 signatories to reverse the decision. The Board stood firm. For the start of the 1979-1980 school year, around 340 Anglophone students from Howden School were transferred to Frontenac School to make way for some 200 Francophone students from Ecole Guyot. In response, the Howden School Parents’ Association took the School Board to court. The case was heard by Justice Peter Scott Morse in the Court of Queens Bench. A decision on 2 January 1980 found in the Board's favour and the recently-converted Ecole Howden remained.
The school became part of the Louis Riel School Division in 1998, with its number of pupils peaked at 500 in 2016, immediately prior to the opening of Ecole Sage Creek School, after which around 160 students relocated to the new facility.
Period
Principal
1965-1966
?
1966-1969
Edward William “Ed” Lefteruk
1969-2024
?
2024-2025
Joanne DeCruyenaere
Period
Vice-Principal
1965-1967
?
1967-1968
Joseph Steven Walecki
1968-1969
Paul Louis Baril
1969-2024
?
2024-2025
Julie Robertson
Period
Teachers
1965-1966
Julie Boone (grade 6), Margaret Yvonne Cheadle (grade 4, January-June), Margaret Ann Finlayson (grade 4), Gwendoline Esther Jonson (grade 3), Lucille Joubert (grade 1), Marien Adele Kendall (grade 2), Donald George Kyliuk (grade 6), Edna Alberta McCleary (grade 3), Doreen Janice Moore (grade 2), Evelyn Shirley Ozdan (grade 5), Florence Lynn Parkinson (grade 1), Marilyn Penner (grade 4, August-December), Georgina Doreen Schiller (grade 5)
1966-1967
Lorraine Diane Brisson (grade 3), Gail-Louise Dennehy (grade 4), Carol Linda Evans (grade 1), Alice Patricia Frobisher (grade 1), Gwendoline Esther Jonson (grade 3, August-May), Lucille Joubert (grade 3, May-June), Donald George Kyliuk (grade 6), Doreen Janice Moore (grade 2), Margaret Augusta Naaykens (grade 2), Florence Lynn Parkinson (grade 1), Ken Clifford Pearase (grade 5), Hanne-Sofie Thingelstad (grade 4), Mary Louise Wilding (grade 5)
1967-1968
Phyllis Margaret Bailey (grades 2-3), Ellen Ann Bate (special education), Susia “Peggy” Boldt (grade 5), Lorraine Diane Brisson (grade 3), Beverley Merle Broderick (grade 2), Theresia Katherine Brown (grade 4), Ruth Wai-Ming Chan (grade 7), Augustine Marie Chateau (special education), Patrick Michael Cole (physical education), Carol Linda Evans (grade 1), Dennis Roy Feir (grade 6), Madeline Gertrude Johnson (grade 1), Lucille Joubert (grade 3), Gisele Marie Koncz (grade 6), Donald George Kyliuk (grade 6), Paule Lucille Marion (grade 7), Doreen Janice Moore (grade 2), Florence Lynn Parkinson (grade 2), Ken Clifford Pearase (grade 5), Patricia Violet Roach (grade 1), Florence Joyce Romanetz (grade 4), Elizabeth Ann Soshycki (grade 4), Suzanne Thiessen (grade 2), Ethel K. Turner (kindergarten), Mary Louise Wilding (grade 5)
1968-1969
Ellen Ann Bate (special education), Lorraine Diane Brisson (grade 3), Theresia Katherine Brown (grade 4), Alison Godfrey Chafekar (grade 4), Augustine Marie Chateau (special education), Patrick Michael Cole (physical education), Gisele Emma Daudet (kindergarten), Anne Fansone (grade 2), Dennis Roy Feir (grade 6), Henri Paul Gregoire (grade 4), Suzanne M. R. Gyde (grade 3), Lucille Joubert (resource), Donald George Kyliuk (grade 6), Eleanor Hanna Scheer Loewen (special education), Donna Lee McKenzie (kindergarten), Darlene Mary-Vonda Moodie (grade 5), Doreen Janice Moore (grade 2), Florence Lynn Parkinson (grade 1), Ken Clifford Pearase (grade 5), Monika Wilma Peemoeller (grade 3), Alice Prestayko (grade 6), Madeline Gertrude Johnson Quilliams (grade 1), Patricia Violet Roach (grade 1), Frank Thiessen (grade 5), Suzanne Thiessen (grade 2), Ethel K. Turner (kindergarten), Mary Louise Wilding (grade 3)
Ecole Howden School (April 2015)
Source: Nathan Kramer
Ecole Howden School (April 2015)
Source: Nathan KramerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.93806, W97.04889
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Gaboury Lussier Sigurdson Architects
Manitoba Business: Triple L Construction Company
Memorable Manitobans: John Power Howden (1879-1959)
“Tenders for construction of school,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 March 1965, page 40.
“Area municipality elections Oct. 26,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 October 1966, page 4.
“City of St. Boniface,” Winnipeg Free Press, 6 October 1966, page 24.
“Suttie only Mayoralty victor in suburbs,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 October 1966, page 12.
“Notice of tender,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 January 1967, page 16.
“Parents disrupt meeting,” Winnipeg Free Press, 16 May 1979, page 4.
“Death threats follow French program approval,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 May 1979, page 4.
“Howden alternatives “ignored”,” Winnipeg Free Press, 20 December 1979, page 12.
“Judge reserves decision on suit,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 December 1979, page 20.
“School ruling disappoints parent group,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 January 1980 page 3.
“Parents ponder appeal to public,” Winnipeg Free Press, 9 January 1980, page 15.
“Trustees question $17,000 legal bill,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 February 1980, page 30.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Ecole Howden: About us - Who we are - History, Louis Riel School Division.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 26 September 2024
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