Historic Sites of Manitoba: Morton School No. 652 / Morton Pioneers Monument (RM of Thompson)

A monument was erected in comemmoration of the pioneers of the Morton district, established in 1886 in the Rural Municipality of Thompson. It stands on the former site of Morton School No. 652 at NW14-5-7W, on the farm of Harman Umphrey. Established as a school district in April 1891, and named for local settler John Morton, it was the educational centre of the community, and it served as a meeting place for the Royal Templars of Temperance and Epworth League as well as Sunday School, church services, and political rallies and polling stations. In 1917, it was consolidated into the Miami Consolidated School District. The former school building was used as a community hall, enlarged in 1930 with a full basement, oil-fueled furnace, and dance floor. In 1967, the building was sold and moved to Roseisle where it was used as a warming shack near an outdoor skating rink.

Among the teachers who worked at Morton School were Jennie Brethour (1892-1893), William Hornibrook (1893-1894), John Maclise (1895), Eleanor Short (1896-1897), Maude Greenway (1897-1899), O. Hornibrook (1899), Ella Playfair (1900), Agnes Grant (1901), Belle Joselyn (1902-1904), Nettie Murdock (1902-1904), Ethel I. Sibley (1905), Robert Moir (1906-1908), Vera McLean (1908), Fanny A. Hitchcock (1909), Sarah Mahan Wood (1910-1911), Mildred Clark (1911), Myrtle McNevin (1912), Euphemia Sterling (1913), Elizabeth Fraser (1913-1914), Katharine Mills (1914-1915), A. D. Phillips (1915-1916), Hazel M. Fisher (1916-1917), and Celestine DeRoo (1917).

Morton pioneers commemorative monument (October 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Morton pioneers commemorative monument (September 2023) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.39872, W98.31779 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Miami & R. M. of Thompson Chronicles by Thompson History Book Committee, c1998. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.M50Mia]

We thank Nathan Kramer and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 12 November 2023

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