Historic Sites of Manitoba: Melrose School No. 1039 / Melrose East School and Melrose Central School / Melrose School (RM of Springfield)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Melrose School District was established in September 1899 and one-room schoolhouses operated at NW25-12-5E in the Rural Municipality of Springfield, just west of Cooks Creek. The original building was a wood frame structure with a belltower and saw both classroom as well as community and church congregational use.

Following steady enrollment growth, in June 1916 the district commissioned a second one-room schoolhouse that became known as Melrose West School, and this location then took the name of Melrose East School [lesser known as East Melrose School]. At the same time, significant repairs were made to the original building, with a $2,000 debenture issued to cover the costs of the repairs and new Melrose West School.

In September 1917 the district issued a further $3,200 in debentures to finance yet-again expanding its capacity, adding a four-room 22 feet by 22 feet teacherage along with an additional classroom in the form of a second stand-alone building located nearby the first school. It opened around 1918. By the mid-1920s, the oldest schoolhouse was used for junior grades and known individually as Melrose East School, while the newer and larger senior schoolhouse became known as Melrose Central School. A Principal, who exclusively taught at Melrose Central School after 1924, oversaw the districts' three-school arrangement until 1951.

When the Melrose School District split in September 1951, the East School and Central School designations were largely discontinued in favour of a simplified Melrose School, although Melrose Continuation School sometimes used for the former Melrose Central School. The former Melrose West School became the Rose School District No. 2332. In 1965, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Oakbank Consolidated School District No. 2426 and later the Transcona Springfield School Division.

Principals

Period	Principal
1916-1920	?
1920-1921	E. S? [L?] Elmitt
1921-1922	Charles Foulsham Laine (1888-1945) [at Melrose West School]
1922-1923	E. J. Thomson
1923-1924	Frederick Webster Simms (1923-1924) [at Melrose West School]
1924	G. Jane Irwin
1925	Glenora Miller
1925-1926	Kathleen Goodchild
1926-1927	Eugenia Prygrocki
1927-1928	Blanche C. Hark
1928	Jessie Phyllis Leus
1928-1930	Mary Margaret Leus
1930-1931	Gladys Evelyn Horton
1931-1932	Bella Mary Sopchuk
1932-1933	Helen Bettina Frances
1933-1935	Ignatius Joseph Zaborniak (1902-1989)
1935-1941	Fred Theodore Klym (1907-1988)
1941	Frank W. Zaborniak
1941	May Irving Davidson
1941-1942	William Nazeravich
1942-1949	Dennis Nazeravich (1916-2010)
1949-1950	Gisele M. Ruel
1950-1954	Mytro “Tony” Onysko (1928-1992)
1954-1955	David Leonard Semenko
1955-1957	Donald Zaporzan
1957-1958	Viola M. Dale
1958-1959	Yvonne Hanson
1959-1960	Lorraine Ingeborg Oswald
1960-1961	Paul Kereliuk
1961-1962	Donald Alexander Bell
1962-1964	Lena Catherine Basiuk

Teachers

Period	Teachers
1912	Spring term only: M. W. Pilcha (February-April), M. M. Wark (May-June)
1912-1913	Anthony J. Palmer
1913-1914	Minnie J. Hensen (Fall 1913), Minnie Werseen (Spring 1914)
1914-1915	N. Boychuk
1915-1916	P. P. Shreyer
1916-1917	Annie C. Blackhall (grades 1-6)
1917-1918	Annie C. Blackhall (grades 1-6, Fall), Marjorie Hunter (grades 1-6, Spring)
1918-1919	Marjorie Hunter (grades ?), Mary J. Kinsella (grades ?)
1919-1920	Mary J. Kinsella (grades ?), Anna F. Lackmance (grades ?, Spring), S. G. Matheson (grades ?, Fall)
1920-1921	Muriel E. Paterson (grades 1-2), E. S? [L?] Elmitt (senior grades)
1921-1922	Marjorie M. Casey (grades 3-6 August-October; grades 1-6, November-June), Amelia Magdaline Laine (grades 1-2, August-October - wife of Charles Foulsham Laine)
1922-1923	Gladys V. McEwen (grades 1-2, November-June), E. J. Thomson (grades 1-8, September-October; grades 3-8, November-June)
1923-1924	Kate Livingstone (grades 1-2, January-June), Edith Mildred Simms (grades 3-8, January-June; wife of Frederick W. Simms)
1924-1925	G. Jane Irwin (grades 3-8, August-December), Kate Livingstone (grades 1-2), Glenora Miller (grades 3-8, January-June)
1925-1926	Kathleen Goodchild (grades 3-8), Kate Livingstone (grades 1-2)
1926-1927	M. Demchuk (grades 1-2, August-December), Emily Goodchild (grades 1-3, January-June), Eugenia Prygrocki (grades 3-8, August-December; grades 4-8, January-June)
1927-1928	Blanche C. Hark (grades 4-8), Violet Hark (grades 1-3, January-June), Islay McKinnell (grades 1-3, August-December)
1928-1929	Jessie Phyllis Leus (grades 4-7, August; grades 1-3, January-June), Mary Margaret Leus (grades 4-7, September-June), Marguerite Muriel Sharpe (grades 1-3, August-December)
1929-1930	Jessie Phyllis Leus (grades 1-3), Mary Margaret Leus (grades 4-8)
1930-1931	Gladys Evelyn Horton (grades 4-8), Helen Firth Tweedie (grades 1-3)
1931-1932	Ruth Carol (grades 1-3, August), Elizabeth Stanbury Ferguson (grades 1-3, November-June), Gladys Evelyn Horton (grades 4-9, August-October), Bella Mary Sopchuk (grades 4-9, November-June)
1932-1933	Elizabeth Stanbury Ferguson (grades 1-3), Helen Bettina Frances (grades 4-9)
1933-1934	Edward John Komodowski (grades 1-3), Ignatius Joseph Zaborniak (grades 4-9)
1934-1935	Fred Klym (grades 1-3), Ignatius Joseph Zaborniak (grades 4-8)
1935-1936	Fred Klym (grades 4-9), Ignatius Joseph Zaborniak (grades 1-3)
1936-1937	Fred Klym (grades 5-9), Frank W. Zaborniak (grades 1-4)
1937-1938	Fred Klym (grades 5-9), Frank W. Zaborniak (grades 1-4)
1938-1939	Fred Klym (grades 5-8), Frank W. Zaborniak (grades 1-4)
1939-1940	Fred Klym (grades 5-9), Frank W. Zaborniak (grades 1-4)
1940-1941	May Irving Davidson (grades 5-9, June), Fred Klym (grades 5-9, August-February), Bessie Ella May Robinson (grades 1-4, April-June), Frank W. Zaborniak (grades 1-4, August- March; grades 5-9, March-June)
1941-1942	Isabel Duffey (grades 1-4), William Nazeravich (grades 5-9)
1942-1943	Elaine Alexandra Kostiuk (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 5-9)
1943-1944	Ann Maradyn (grades 1-3), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 5-8)
1944-1945	Adeline P. Duda (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 5-9)
1945-1946	Dennis Nazeravich (grades 5-9), Stephanie Sawchuk (grades 1-4)
1946-1947	Donna Grapentine (grades 1-4), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 5-9)
1947-1948	Bernice M. Kowal (grades 1-6), Dennis Nazeravich (grades 7-10)
1948-1949	Dennis Nazeravich (grades 7-11), Helen Penner (grades 1-6)
1949-1950	Gisele M. Ruel (grades 7-10), Irene Imelda Ruel (grades 1-6)
1950-1951	Mytro “Tony” Onysko (grades 7-10), Edward Theodore Witoski (grades 1-6)
1951-1952	Robert Gordon Duff (grades 1-6), Mytro “Tony” Onysko (grades 7-11)
1952-1953	Mary Onysko (grades 1-6), Mytro “Tony” Onysko (grades 7-11)
1953-1954	William Alex Lebedeff (grades 1-6), Mytro “Tony” Onysko (grades 7-11)
1954-1955	William Alex Lebedeff (grades 1-6), David Leonard Semenko (grades 7-11)
1955-1956	Donald Zaporzan (grades 7-11), Eileen Ruby Zaporzan (grades 1-6)
1956-1957	Donald Zaporzan (grades 7-11), Eileen Ruby Zaporzan (grades 1-6)
1957-1958	Viola M. Dale (grades 5-8), Julie Patricia Pikowick [Pikowich?] (grades 1-4)
1958-1959	Yvonne Hanson (grades 5-8), Julie Patricia Pikowick [Pikowich?] (grades 1-4)
1959-1960	Lorraine Ingeborg Oswald (grades 5-8), Shirley Parkes (grades 1-4)
1960-1961	Mary Kereliuk (grades 1-4), Paul Kereliuk (grades 5-8)
1961-1962	Donald Alexander Bell (grades 5-8), Angeline Bernice Biedron (grades 1-4)
1962-1963	Lena Catherine Basiuk (grades 5-8), Angeline Bernice Biedron (grades 1-4)
1963-1964	Lena Catherine Basiuk (grades 5-8), Anne Dueck (grades 1-4)
1964-1965	Phyllis Kwiatkowski (grades 1-8)

Photos & Coordinates

The original Melrose School / Melrose East School (left) and Melrose Central School (right) (no date) by J. E. S. Dunlop Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 45. Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.04747, W96.78550 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Melrose School No. 1039 / Melrose West School / Rose School No. 2332 (RM of Springfield)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Miles Macdonell Collegiate / Melrose Junior High School (757 Roch Street, Winnipeg)

Sources:

Selkirk topographic map, 62I/2, Edition 2, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #19 School District of Melrose, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #44 School District of Melrose, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Melrose School District No. 1039, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Melrose School District No. 1039 (Melrose East School & Melrose Central School) Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Melrose School District #1039 - Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.

Springfield, 1st Rural Municipality in Manitoba, 1873-1973, Dugald Women’s Institute.

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.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 3 October 2021

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