Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Morris School District was formally established in March 1876 and a school building operated in the Town of Morris. In 1908, a two-storey, four-classroom school building was designed by Winnipeg architect William Wallace Blair and constructed using bricks made by the Morris Brick Manufacturing Company.
After the 1950 Red River flood, the building was renovated into a residential fourplex. The site is presently occupied by single-family homes.
Period
Principal
1907-1908
J. H. Hutchison
1908-1909
Edward Alfred Hemsworth (1872-1955)
1909-1910
Walter Gard Jose (1878-1948)
1910-1912
?
1912-1913
John William Lawbe Doubleday (1867-1938)
1913-1914
Floyd Bowen
1914-1915
Elizabeth Rowan
1915-1917
?
1917-1919
Annie L. Rutherford
1919-1920
C. M. Bean
1920-1921
G. E. Porter
1921-1922
George Wesley Darnell White (1891-1947)
1922-1923
H. A. Newell
1923-1945
Otto Brown Cossitt (c1876-1964)
1945-1947
John Sigfus Helgason (1898-1978)
1947-1950
Wesley Sterling McGill (1904-1986)
After 1950
Period
Teachers
1922-1923
L. M. Paradice (grade 1), ?
1923-1924
E. Pearl Latimer (grade 1), ?
1924-1925
Helen S. Broadfoot (grade 1, September-December), Violet M. Nichols (grade 1, January-April), Ruth Willey (grade 1, May-June), ?
1925-1926
Vera MacNair (grade 1), ?
1926-1927
Stella A. Douglas (grades 4-5), Ethel Sproule (grades 6-8), ?
1927-1928
Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Stella A. Douglas (grades 4-5), Myrtle E. Munroe (grade 1), Ethel Sproule (grades 6-7), Beryl Alexandra Young (grades 2-3)
1928-1929
Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Stella A. Douglas (grades 4-5), E. J. Marshall (grades 6-8), Myrtle E. Munroe (grade 1), Beryl Alexandra Young (grades 2-3)
1929-1930
Mary Grizel Bruce (grades 4-5), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Walter Fredrickson (grades 6-8), Myrtle E. Munroe (grade 1), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 2-3)
1930-1931
Mary Grizel Bruce (grades 4-5), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Walter Fredrickson (grades 6-8), Myrtle E. Munroe (grade 1), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 2-3)
1931-1932
Mary Grizel Bruce (grades 4-5), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11, September-December; grades 9-10, January-June), Walter Fredrickson (grades 6-8), Myrtle E. Munroe (grade 1), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 2-3)
1932-1933
Mary Grizel Bruce (grades 3 & 5), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Walter Fredrickson (grades 6-8), Myrtle E. Munroe (grades 1-2), Gertrude Angie Smith (grade 4)
1933-1934
Mary Grizel Bruce (grade 5), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Walter Fredrickson (grades 6-8), Myrtle E. Munroe (grades 1-2), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 3-4)
1934-1935
Mary Grizel Bruce (grades 5-6), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Myrtle E. Munroe (grades 1-2), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 3-4), ? (grades 7-8)
1935-1936
Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), William Nelson Harvey (grades 7-8, August-February), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 3-4), Lillian Rosemary Worthington (grades 5-6), Merdith Leslie Wotton (grades 7-8, February-June), ? (grades 1-2)
1936-1937
Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 9-11), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 3-4), Lillian Rosemary Worthington (grades 5-6), ? (grades 1-2 & 7-8)
1937-1938
Charles Manly Belton (grades 6-7), Phoebe Vaughan Boughton (grades 8-9, October-June; daughter of Maurice Edmund Boughton), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 10-11), Kathleen Elizabeth Nixon (grades 4-5), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 2-3), R. W. Sparling (grades 8-9, September), Merdith Leslie Wotton (grades 8-9, September), ? (grade 1)
1938-1939
Otto Brown Cossitt (grade 11), Paul J. Robinson (grades 9-10), Gertrude Angie Smith (grades 3-4), Marion Doris Smith (grades 7-8), Doris Grace Webb (grades 5-6), ? (grades 1-2)
1939-1940
Violet Elizabeth Clegg (grades 3-4), Otto Brown Cossitt (grade 11), Marion Doris Smith (grades 7-8), Donald Richard Thom (grades 9-10), Doris Grace Webb (grades 5-6), ? (grades 1-2)
1940-1941
Violet Elizabeth Clegg (grades 3-4), Otto Brown Cossitt (grades 11-12), Margaret Eilen Howe (grades 5-6), Marion Doris Smith (grades 7-8), Donald Richard Thom (grades 9-10), ? (grades 1-2)
1941-1942
Otto Brown Cossitt (grade 11), Donald Richard Thom (grades 9-10), ?
1942-1943
Otto Brown Cossitt (grade 11), Donald Richard Thom (grades 9-10), ?
1943-1944
Otto Brown Cossitt (grade 11), Donald Richard Thom (grades 9-10), ?
1944-1945
Otto Brown Cossitt (grade 11),
The original building for Morris School (circa 1911)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspector Photos GR2664, C65.
Morris Public School (circa 1908)
Source: Education Department Report, 1908, Manitoba Legislative Library.
Postcard view of Morris Public School (circa 1911)
Source: Rob McInnes, MN0004.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.35310, W97.36788
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: William Wallace Blair (1852-1916)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Morris Primary School / West Unit School (159 Main Street South, Morris)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Morris Consolidated School / East Unit School (Rebecca Street, Morris)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Morris Collegiate / Morris School (324 Toronto Avenue, Morris)
Manitoba Organization: Morris-Macdonald School Division School District No. 19
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Starbuck School District No. 1150 Daily Registers, GR0638, Archives of Manitoba.
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
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.
In the Beginning of Scratching River: An Early History of Morris, Manitoba by Tim Lewis, Pembina Manitou Archive, 2022, pages 53-54.
We thank Rob McInnes, Ralph Groening, and Lois Braun for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 22 November 2025
Historic Sites of Manitoba
This is a collection of historic sites in Manitoba compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. The information is offered for historical interest only.
Browse lists of:
Museums/Archives | Buildings | Monuments | Cemeteries | Locations | OtherInclusion in this collection does not confer special status or protection. Official heritage designation may only come from municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Some sites are on private property and permission to visit must be secured from the owner.
Site information is provided by the Manitoba Historical Society as a free public service only for non-commercial purposes.
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the MHS Webmaster at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.Help us keep history alive!
