Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba School for the Deaf / Manitoba Vocational Centre / Prince Charles School / Prince Charles Education Resource Centre (1075 Wellington Avenue, Winnipeg)

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

Following the displacement of staff and students from the Manitoba School for the Deaf during the Second World War, classes were held in other schools of the Winnipeg School Division, at Wolseley School (1940-1947), Isbister School (1947-1957), and Principal Sparling School (1957-1958). In contrast with its former Shaftesbury Boulevard location, these were day school classes, and not as a full (or partial) residential school. Accordingly, it was named the Manitoba Day School for the Deaf, though also known by other names, including the Winnipeg Day School for the Deaf. In 1957, this site was selected by the provincial government to serve as the centre for deaf education in the metro Winnipeg area.

To replace the temporary day schools held in other division facilities, this school was designed by provincial architect Basil Roy McPherson. On 4 October 1957, its cornerstone was laid by Premier Douglas Lloyd Campbell and the school opened to students in early 1958, with all deaf classes consolidated in this building. The $75,000 facility had four classrooms, lunch room, teachers’ room, principal’s office, and boiler room. The Society for Crippled Children and Adults provided transportation for students to and from classes. Despite a recommendation by the MacFarlane Royal Commission on Education, that the school should be closed and all deaf students sent to the Saskatchewan School for the Deaf, the provincial government opted to expand capacity here, adding in 1960 four additional classrooms designed by McPherson at a cost of $40,000.

In 1966, the Manitoba School for the Deaf returned to its former Shaftesbury Boulevard location before moving to the former Alexander Ross School. This building was converted for use as the Manitoba Vocational Centre for teacher training and later underwent a large addition and alterations before being named, in 1972, as the Prince Charles School in the Winnipeg School Division. The cornerstone of this expansion was laid on 22 June 1972 by city Councillor and former Winnipeg School Board Finance Chair Olga Fuga, who officially opened the school on 30 January 1973. The school was designed for teenage students with educational and mental handicaps, reportedly making it unique in Canada. It hosted around 100 secondary-level students and about 20 younger children. The facility was used jointly by the Winnipeg School Division, Seven Oaks School Division, and Assiniboine South School Division. Classes included arts and crafts, clothing, food, music, and physical education, accompanied by services from the Special Education unit of the Child Guidance Clinic, including psychology, social work, psychiatry, speech and hearing.

In 1979, school trustees approved off-site classes for students to be held at Grosvenor School and Churchill High School. In August 1988, the Winnipeg School Board announced the school’s closure with the conclusion of the school year, after which students would be integrated into regular classes with access to programming at Churchill High School, Grant Park High School, Elmwood High School, St. John’s High School, Sisler High School, Gordon Bell High School, Andrew Mynarski VC Junior High School, and Hugh John Macdonald Junior High School.

The school closed on 30 June 1989. The Winnipeg School Division consolidated its three Education Resource Centres into this single and present facility, now known as the Prince Charles Education Resource Centre.

Principals (Manitoba Day School for the Deaf)

Period

Principal

1958-1966

see Manitoba School for the Deaf

Teachers (Manitoba Day School for the Deaf)

Period

Teachers

1958-1966

see Manitoba School for the Deaf

Principals (Prince Charles School)

Period

Principal

1970-1989

Barbara Alice “Barb” Sarson (1931-2020)

Vice-Principals (Prince Charles School)

Period

Vice-Principal

1978-1980

Philip Barry Berger

1980-1981

Robert John Mak

1981-?

?

?-?

Terry McLean

?-1989

?

Teachers (Prince Charles School)

Period

Teachers

1976-1977

Doreen Ellen Campbell, Glen Joseph Cornick, Moses Abraham du Plessis, John Gordon Holland (work co-ordinator), Gertrud Elisabeth Horvath, Anne Elizabeth Klein, Leslie William Klywak, Robert V. F. LeGoff, Bernie Ruth Linney, Joan Carmel Llyod, Robert George McDill, Judith Anne McEwan, Jessie Stewart Paterson Prescott, Johanna Elisabeth G. Rebel, Shirley Ida Skibo, Evelyn Mary Stanley, Henry B. Unruh, John Hubert Van Wallegham

1977-1978

Doreen Ellen Campbell, Glen Joseph Cornick, Moses Abraham du Plessis, Angela Rosemarie Gross, John Gordon Holland (work co-ordinator), Gertrud Elisabeth Horvath, Daniel George “Dan” Johnson (physical education), Anne Elizabeth Klein, Joan Carmel Llyod, Thomas Archie Lovatt, Robert George McDill, Judith Anne McEwan, Jessie Stewart Paterson Prescott, Johanna Elisabeth G. Rebel, John Elmar Silver, Shirley Ida Skibo, Evelyn Mary Stanley, John Hubert Van Wallegham

1978-1979

Doreen Ellen Campbell, Glen Joseph Cornick, Moses Abraham du Plessis, Angela Rosemarie Gross, John Gordon Holland (work co-ordinator), Gertrud Elisabeth Horvath, Karen Dale Hutton, Daniel George “Dan” Johnson (physical education), Anne Elizabeth Klein, Joan Carmel Llyod, Thomas Archie Lovatt, Robert George McDill, Judith Anne McEwan, Jessie Stewart Paterson Prescott (no grades), Johanna Elisabeth G. Rebel, John Elmar Silver, Evelyn Mary Stanley, John Hubert Van Wallegham

1979-1980

Glen Joseph Cornick, Maureen Joan Dowds (physical education), Moses Abraham du Plessis, Angela Rosemarie Gross, Gillian Louise Heaps, John Gordon Holland (work co-ordinator), Karen Dale Hutton, Robert Doyle Jones, Richard Jan Karkota, Anne Elizabeth Klein, Joan Carmel Llyod, Robert George McDill, Judith Anne McEwan, William Jack Miller, Jessie Stewart Paterson Prescott (no grades), James Douglas Smith, Kenneth Blake Smith, Evelyn Mary Stanley, John Hubert Van Wallegham

1980-1981

Janie Elaine Castles, Grant David Cheodle, Maureen Joan Dowds (physical education), Moses Abraham du Plessis (1980), Erica Marsha Goldstein, Gillian Louise Heaps, Kimberley Lois Henderson, John Gordon Holland (work co-ordinator), Gertrud Elisabeth Horvath, Karen Dale Hutton, Bruce Lloyd Johnson, Anne Elizabeth Klein, Robert George McDill, Judith Anne McEwan (no grades), Dennis W. McIntosh, William Jack Miller, Jessie Stewart Paterson Prescott (no grades), Kenneth Blake Smith, Evelyn Mary Stanley, Harvey M. Teal (1980), William Robert Walmsley

1981-1982

?

1982-1983

?

1983-1984

?

1984-1985

?

1985-1986

?

1986-1987

?

1987-1988

?

1988-1989

?

Photos & Coordinates

The former Prince Charles School

The former Prince Charles School (July 2015)
Source: Nathan Kramer

The former Prince Charles School

The former Prince Charles School (August 2017)
Source: Nathan Kramer

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90091, W97.17987
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Memorable Manitobans: Basil Roy McPherson (1903-1995)

Manitoba Organization: Manitoba School for the Deaf

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Deaf and Dumb Institute / Manitoba School for the Deaf (Portage Avenue, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba School for the Deaf / Manitoba Teachers’ College / Canadian Mennonite University (500 Shaftesbury Boulevard, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Alexander Ross School / Manitoba School for the Deaf (242 Stradford Street, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Central School / Portage Normal School / Prince Charles School (Third Street Southwest, Portage la Prairie)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Prince Charles School (2177 Springfield Road, RM of Springfield)

Sources:

Manitoba School for the Deaf students attendance registers (E 0839), Daily Registers, GR4117, Archives of Manitoba.

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

“Start work on School for Deaf,” Winnipeg Free Press, 7 October 1957, page 50.

[Photo caption], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 September 1959, page 12.

“Best pupils neglected, says probe,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 December 1959, page 12.

“Province not likely to close School for Deaf,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 January 1960, page 15.

“Many help exceptional children,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 February 1961, page 11.

“Wanted,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 January 1966, page 46.

“Tender for school building,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 January 1972, page 21.

[Photo caption], Winnipeg Free Press, 23 June 1972, page 11.

“New school opened,” Winnipeg Free Press, 31 January 1973, page 3.

“From tax consumer ... to taxpayer,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 August 1976, page 25.

“Students taught skills for the outside world,” Winnipeg Free Press, 6 September 1977, page 3.

“Try-out class for deaf set,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 July 1979, page 24.

“Dowds opens door for others,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 May 1982, page 65.

“Inquiry told welfare laws broken here,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 January 1983, page 6.

Obituary [Ingibjorg McGlynn], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 October 1987, page 26.

“Program to close,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly North Edition, 24 July 1988, page 3.

“Victoria School gets addition,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly North Edition, 29 August 1988, page 3.

“School move opposed,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 December 1988, page 3.

“New use for school proposed,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly West Edition, 26 March 1989, page 3.

“Principals shuffled,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly North Edition, 2 July 1989, page 2.

“McLean new Principal,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly North Edition, 8 July 1990, page 3.

“Residents to appeal parking lot plan,” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 November 1990.

Winnipeg School Division: Celebrating One Hundred Fifty Years, 1871-2021 by Winnipeg School Division, 2021.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 26 December 2023

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