Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ninette School No. 1028 (Ninette, RM of Prairie Lakes)

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

The Ninette School District was organized formally in June 1899 and, for a time, students attended classes above a general store in Ninette in what is now the Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes. In 1901, a one-storey, one-classroom school building was erected but, around 1912, a second storey (and second classroom) was added, accessible via an exterior staircase that doubled as a fire escape.

With growing student enrollment, a massive one-storey red brick structure was built in 1926 at a cost of about $20,000, a twin of Brookdale School No. 1299, Deloraine School No. 490, Shoal Lake School No. 458, and Woodhaven School No. 2093, based on a design by Winnipeg architect Gilbert Parfitt and constructed by Brandon contractor George Epton. Three of its four classrooms went into use following an official opening ceremony on 17 September 1926, presided over by Dr. D. A. Stewart, Charles Cannon, and R. F. Fletcher. The original school building was torn down around the same time. The fourth classroom did not come into use until 1939. Most of its windows were bricked over around 1985, probably as an energy-saving measure.

Enrollment at the school declined gradually through time and, finally, with a student body numbering around 10, the school closed in June 2007. The school building has been renovated into a private residence.

Principals

Period	Principal
1913-1914	Mrs. N. Dodge
1914-1915	Ralph C. Clench
1915-1916	Mrs. Hagerman
1916	Miss Irvine
1917	Eva Calverley (1895-1988)
1917	Mary Graham
1918	Miss A. Gutzke
1919	Nellie Adams
1919-1920	Miss M. D. Stafford
1920	Annie Tetterly
1921	Kathleen Johnson
1921	Margaret McMillan
1922	Mrs. Pascoe
1922-1923	John Noriah Sturk (1874-1939)
1923-1924	Elsie Irene Kerr Yellowlees (1901-1990)
1924-1925	Miss Moore
1925-1926	Dorothy Strachan
1926-1929	Albert Rae Smale (1897-?)
1929-1931	Albert Lee Herron (1895-1970)
1931-1937	Robert William Lightly (1909-1985)
1937-1939	John Wesley Lorne Graham (1904-2000)
1939-1940	Alexander Maxwell “Max” Segall (1905-1983)
1940-1942	Oliver Clayton Bricker (1900-1992)
1942-1943	Harry Itzkow (1919-1990)
1943-1945	Edward James Marshall (1901-1964)
1945-1946	Stanley Robert Kitchen (1915-1988)
1946-1947	Delorie Wessels “Del” Howell (1925-2008)
1947-1949	Lillian Elizabeth Barker (1920-2005)
1949-1950	David Langton MacDonald (1911-1957)
1950-1951	Anne Sims Crichton (1910-1994)
1951-1952	Michael P. Lysack (?-1989)
1952-1958	Ronald Leslie Chalmers
1958-1959	D. A. Harvey
1959-1962	Ruth McKay
1962-1969	?
1969-1970	Donald S. Paterson
1970-1973	?
1973-1974	Dorothy Scott
1974-1975	?
1975-1976	Ken Storie
1976-1977	?
1977-1989	Tom Emslie
1989-1992	Mrs. Maxwell

Teachers

School Year	Teachers
1922-1923	Mary E. A. McMillan (grades 1-4), John Noriah Sturk (grades 5-10)
1923-1924	Elsie Irene Kerr (senior grades), ?
1924-1925	Miss Moore (senior grades), ?
1925-1926	Dorothy Strachan (senior grades), ?
1926-1927	Albert Rae Smale (senior grades), ?
1927-1928	Albert Rae Smale (senior grades), ?
1928-1929	Albert Rae Smale (senior grades), ?
1929-1930	Albert Lee Herron (senior grades), ?
1930-1931	Albert Lee Herron (senior grades), ?
1931-1932	Robert William Lightly (senior grades), ?
1932-1933	Robert William Lightly (senior grades), ?
1933-1934	Robert William Lightly (senior grades), ?
1934-1935	Robert William Lightly (senior grades), ?
1935-1936	Robert William Lightly (senior grades), Miss Murray, ?
1936-1937	Robert William Lightly (senior grades), ?
1937-1938	?
1938-1939	?
1939-1940	Miss Helen Bent (grades 3,4,5)
1940-1941	Miss Helen Bent (grades 3,4,5)
1941-1942	?
1942-1943	?
1943-1944	?
1944-1945	?
1945-1946	?
1946-1947	?
1947-1948	?
1948-1949	?
1949-1950	?
1950-1951	?
1951-1952	?
1952-1953	?
1953-1954	Miss R. Alberta Chapman (intermediate room), Miss Annie E. Lawson (primary room)
1954-1955	?
1955-1956	Mrs. Lawson (grades 1-4)
1956-1957	?
1957-1958	Miss Chappell (grades 1-4), Miss Arlene Tosh
1958-1959	?
1959-1960	?
1960-1961	?
1961-1962	Joyce McDonald (grades 3-5)
1962-1963	Miss Heraldton, Joyce McDonald (grades 4-5), Miss Penny, Miss Joyce Wardle, Jayne Williamson
1963-1964	Shirley Ronson, Jayne Williamson
1964-1965	Shirley Ronson, Jayne Williamson
1965-1966	?
1966-1967	Miss Miller (grades 4-6)
1967-1968	?
1968-1969	?
1969-1970	Malvina Buhler Heide, Mrs. Rena Scott
1970-1971	Malvina Buhler Heide
1971-1972	?
1972-1973	?
1973-1974	Debbie Dionne, Doreen Mullen, Dorothy Scott, Rina Scott
1974-1975	?
1975-1976	Ken Storie (grades 7 and 8), Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1976-1977	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1977-1978	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1978-1979	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1979-1980	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1980-1981	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1981-1982	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1982-1983	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1983-1984	Mlle Bolduc (French), Donna Jean Lamb, Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1984-1985	Mlle Bolduc (French), Donna Jean Lamb, Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1985-1986	Mlle Bolduc (French), Donna Jean Lamb, Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1986-1987	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1987-1988	Marilyn Cullen, Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1988-1989	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie
1989-1990	Colleen Wylie, Jim Wylie

Among the teachers who worked at Ninette School in the early years were: Theodore A. Girling (1900-1902), E. Benson Steele (1902-1903), Arthur Leighton (1903-1904), Leslie E. Grace (1904-1905), Ethel Johnston (1905-?), Dora Faryon (1911-1912), Mrs. Dodge (1912-1913), Gladys Barkwell (1913), Miss Townsley (1914-1915), Miss Kinley (1915-1916), Miss Frame (1916-1919), Mary Overend (1919-1920), Vivian Newton (1920), Miss Gardiner (1921), Jessie Chalmers (1921), Mary McMillan (1921-1923), Miss C. M. Mott (1924-1925), Jean C. Bell (1926), Janet L. More (1926), Miss Carson (1926), and Katrine Clench (1926).

Other teachers included Norman Monk, Miss Goodsky, Walter Cheslock, Les Defoort, and Phyllis Brown Paskewitz.

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of the original Ninette School (no date) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2012-0071 Ninette School (no date) by W. J. Parr Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 43. Ninette School (1967) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Ninette 5. Ninette School (1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1098. The former Ninette School building, now a private residence (June 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former Ninette School building and commemorative sign (August 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.40100, W99.63406 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“Specification, School, Ninette S.D. No. 1028, Manitoba,” 1926. [T. Tennant, Ninette, Manitoba]

“Constructional Activity,” Contract Review and Engineering Review, 7 April 1926, page 52.

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

“Ninette news,” Belmont News, 20 August 1953, page 3.

History of the Ninette School by Keith Worden, 1956.

“Ninette news,” Belmont News, 6 September 1962, page 7.

And So ... Ninette, 1879-1919 by Eva Calverley, circa 1966.

“Ninette elementary staff,” Belmont News, 11 September 1969, page 5.

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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

“80 years ago,” Baldur Gazette-News, 17 December 1996, page 5.

“School days,” Brandon Sun, 17 March 1999, page 4.

“Ninette school centennial,” Baldur Gazette-News, 31 August 1999.

“Ninette School officially closes,” Baldur Gazette, 10 July 2007, page 1.

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

We thank Ken Storie, Ruth McKay, Jessie Myers, Shirley Carson, Rose Kuzina, Nathan Kramer, and visitors to the building’s open house on 17 September 2016 for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Tricia Tennent.

Page revised: 20 October 2021

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