Historic Sites of Manitoba: Oldenburg School No. 968 (Oldenburg, RM of Whitemouth)

The Oldenburg School District was established in June 1898 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at NE22-12-11E in the Rural Municipality of Whitemouth. Student enrollment at the school averaged 50 per year, with as many as 70 in some years. This necessitated the use of two classrooms in the 1940s and 1950s. The district was dissolved in 1967 when it was consolidated with Whitemouth Consolidated School District. The former school building was renovated into a private residence which is still present at the site.

Among the teachers of Oldenburg School through the years were Harland Chester Whitewarsh (1906-1907), M. B. Forster (1908), Gustave Pfaff (1909-1910, 1915-1916), Charles Van der Panl? (1911), John S. F. Hart (1911), Florence E. Long (1911), Mary M. Johnston (1912-1914), Helen Zado (1915-1915, 1918-1919), Eva. J. Bell (1917), M. Hausfield (1918), F. Sutherland (1919), Winifred Dobie (1920), Charles D. Smith (1920-1922), Mary M. A. Ruccius (1922-1924), Rosina Perick [Perich] (1924-1925), Edith Aylwin (1925), Eleanor Zaslow (1926), Martha L. Ruccius (1926), Elsie H. Handel (1926-1927), Lydia P. Milbrandt (1927-1928), Lyall MacDonald Robertson (1928-1929), Eleanor Massey (1930), Elizabeth Anne Drewry (1930-1931), Mary Agnes Bremner (1931-1932), Laura Feltham (1932-1935), Mary Harper (1935-1938), Charlotte Isabelle Lynch (1938), Gwennie Olwen “Gwen” McWhirter (1938-1939), Lois Mabel West (1939-1940), Mildred Enns (1940), Mrs. J. L. Cousins (1941, substitute), Mrs. H. W. Stacey (1941), William Schultz (1941-1942), Alice Gietz (grades 1-3, 1942-1943), William Schultz (grades 4-9, 1942-1943; grades 4-10, 1943-1944; grades 4-9, 1944-1945; grades 5-10, 1945-1946; grades 5-9, 1946-1947; grades 5-10, 1947-1948; grades 7-11, 1948-1949), Helena Braun (grades 1-3, 1943-1944), Evelyn Arnold (grades 1-3, 1944-1945; grades 1-4, 1945-1946; grades 1-4, 1946-1947), A. John Howk (grades 1-4, 1947-1948), Hilma C. M. Solar (grades 1-6, 1948-1949), Ruth Thelma Wier (1949-1950), Oscar Andrew Wurster (1950-1954), and Peter Jacob Williams (1954-1961), and Veronica Theresa Toker (1961-1966).

Oldenburg School (1920) by R. Goulet Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 32. Oldenburg School (September 1947) Source: Archives of Manitoba, George Harris Fonds, Acc. 1979-141, P7452, Album 18, Page 41. The former Oldenburg School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1471. The former Oldenburg School building (October 2013) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.01758, W96.01474 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Obituary [Helen Zado], Winnipeg Free Press, 6 October 1961.

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.

Trails to Rails to Highways edited by Bob Porth and Craig MacKenzie, Whitemouth Municipal Museum Society, 1979.

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

Manitoba School Records Collection (GR2036), Oldenburg School District No. 968 Daily Registers, Archives of Manitoba.

This page was prepared by Robert Porth, Gordon Goldsborough, and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 19 February 2023

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