Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lyleton School No. 731 (Lyleton, Municipality of Two Borders)

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

The Lyleton School District was established formally in January 1893 and a school was erected where the Lyleton Cemetery is presently situated, in what is now the Municipality of Two Borders, on land donated by local farmer Amos Moore Lyle. In 1902, when the village of Lyleton was developed along the Canadian Pacific Railway, classes were transferred to the village community hall and the old school became White School No. 1326.

In 1906, a two-room school opened in Lyleton teaching grades 1 to 11. White School closed in 1912 when it was consolidated with Lyleton School to form the Lyleton Consolidated School No. 731. It became part of the Edward Municipal School District in 1956. A new two-room school for grades 1 to 8 was constructed on the northeast corner of the property in 1965 and the former school was demolished. Its bell was put atop a local monument. The school closed in June 1971 due to declining enrollment and thereafter children were bused to Pierson or Melita.

A commemorative plaque and replica of the former school were unveiled at the site on 1 July 2001.

Principals

Period	Principal
1920-1925	Ralph Ernest Mayes (1891-1969)
1925-1926	B. F. McLeod
1926-1927	Robert MacLaren Keswick (1894-1938)
1927-1929	Kenneth Donald Bruce (1892-1968)
1929-1930	William G. King (?-?)
1930-1932	C. H. Crossman
1932-1935	Charles Middlemiss “Jock” Langford (1902-1946)
1935-1937	Frederick James “Fred” Kennedy (1913-1942)
1937-1938	Arthur A. Foster
1938-1940	George Oswald Hinds (1906-1969)
1940-1944	Ralph Ernest Mayes (1891-1969)
1944-1945	John Elwin Laird (1876-1950)
1945-1946	Frank Cecil Jacobs (1914-2002)
1946-1947	Stanley Francis Pye (1908-1985)
1947-1950	Walter Yanchyshyn (1922-1997)
1950-1951	Wesley Henry Sametz (1917-2009)
1951-1953	George Wesley Denstedt (1896-1979)
1953-1954	Theodore “Ted” Samotowka
1954-1957	Michael L. “Mike” Balitsky
1957-1958	Ernest K. Eisler
1958-1960	Norman C. Hedison
1960-1961	Frank E. Basiuk
1961-1964	Constance “Connie” Davidson (1925-2012)
1964-1965	B. Dale Nelson

Teachers

Among the other teachers who worked at Lyleton School were Ralph Robins (1893), E. L. Jackson (1894), John Francis Morrison (1895-1896), C. A. Murray (1896), Bertha Kellar (1897, 1898), F. Morrison (1897), Luella Munroe (1899), Minnie Walker (1900), P. W. Winthrope (1900), Jessie Furtney (1901), Margaret King (1905-1907), Laura E. Mace (1908), John B. Stewart (1909), Mayme A. McFetridge (1909-1910), Earl A. Ross (1910-1911), Victor W. Jenkins (1911-1912), Roxy Bride (1912), Louise C. Anderson (1912-1913), Minnie L. MacKenzie (1912-1913), James Henderson (1913-1914, 1919-1920), Laura Davidson (1913-1915), John Houston (1915-1916), Irene Melhuish (1915-1916), Frank S. Cockbill (1916-1917), Isabella J. Rendall (1916-1917), Dorothy Cornell (1917-1918), Isabella M. Melvin (1918), Jean Brown (1918-1919), Edith McKenzie (1918-1919), L. F. Rogers (1919-1921), Martha Reekie (1920), Grace Dandy (1920-1921), Lulu Rogers (1920-1921), E. M. Winslow (1921-1922), Mrs. C. L. Fraser (1921-1922), Mrs. M. E. White (1921-1924), Miss Norton (1921-1922), Mrs. McNish (1922-1925, 1926-1927), Grace Dunning (1924-1925), Reta Breakey (1925-1926), Edith Reid (1925-1926), Jean Dandy (1926-1929), Florence Cameron (1927-1928), Anne Forbes (1928-1933), Miss Williams (1928-1930), Jessie Post (1930-1932), Beth Dick (1932-1935), Miss Barber (1932-1933), Vera Murray (1935-1943), Margaret Gilchrist (1935-1940), Margaret Braaksma (1940-1943, 1957-1964), Helen Leckie (1943-1944), Anne Dunlop (1943-1944), Mrs. McRure (1943-1944), Carlyle Mayes (1943-1944), Doris Brooks (1944-1946), Mary Graham (1944-1945), Jean Fraser (1945-1946), Miss McKellar (1946-1947), Edward Kowalchuk (1946-1947), Isobel Miller (1947-1951), Anne Yanchyshyn (1947-1949), Tony Onysko (1949-1950), Arnold J. Nicholls (1950-1951), Isobel Gardiner (1951-1952), W. J. Olson (1951-1952), Pearl Stevens (1952-1955), Garnet Stevens (1952-1955), Mrs. Ruth Boulton (1955-1971), Ina Reid (1955-1957), Andy Sorgenfrie (1957-1958), Henry C. Barnes (1964-1965), Mrs. E. Siddaway (1965-1966), W. Emerson (1965-1967), M. Jean I. Gunn (1967-1971), and Ethel Willson (1970-1971).

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of Lyleton School (circa 1910) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2013-0043 Lyleton School (1920s) by George Hunter Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 116. Lyleton School replica and commemorative plaque (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.05778, W101.18023 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Lyleton Pioneers Monument (Lyleton, Municipality of Two Borders)

Sources:

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

“Twelve retiring teachers cap careers with retirement dinner,” Brandon Sun, 17 June 1976, page 10.

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.

Harvests of Time: History of the R.M. of Edward by Edward History Book Committee, 1983, pages 160-165.

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 15 September 2023

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