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The Ridgewood School District was established in 1882 and a school building was erected, at a cost of $700, on the southwest quarter of 19-7-7 east of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Ste. Anne. It opened for classes in June 1883 with Miss Elizabeth Nesbitt as teacher.
In 1920, local ratepayers issued debentures to cover a loan of $5,000 for the construction of a new school building at a site a half mile east of the former one. In the fall of 1941, with enrollment growing, a second classroom was opened in its basement. Eight years later, with still greater numbers of students, the decision was made to build a second school, to be called Ridgewood South, at NE6-7-7E. The older school became known as Ridgewood North, and a second classroom in its basement was opened in 1955.
The Ridgewood South School was destroyed by fire on 30 January 1957 and classes were held in the Clearsprings United Church building until a replacement could be erected later that year. Two years later, the overcrowded Ridgewood North School was replaced by a new structure, erected by the Steinbach Lumber Yards at a cost of just under $18,000.
Administration of the two schools was taken over by the Hanover Unitary School Division in December 1967 and they were closed, with students from Ridgewood North bused to Blumenhof School and those from Ridgewood South going to Steinbach School. The Ridgewood South building was moved to Blumenhof to accommodate the additional students and its site was sold. The Ridgewood North building and site was sold to an Evangelical Mennonite Church.
Period
Principal
1941-1945
Edith May Kelly (1916-1998)
1945-1947
Mary W. Klassen
1947-1948
Anne Klassen
1948-1949
Elizabeth Giesbrecht
1949-1950
Clifford Milton Reimer
1950-1955
no Principal
1955-1959
Bernhard Alfred Klassen
1959-1961
Cornelius Goertzen
1961-1964
Melvin Penner
1964-1967
Benjamin “Ben” Hiebert
1967-1968
Helen Kornelson
Period
Teachers
1941-1942
Lottie Giesbrecht (grades 1-4), Edith May Kelly (grades 5-9)
1942-1943
Edith May Kelly (grades 5-9), Annie Toews (grades 1-4)
1943-1944
Alice Bernice Keith (grades 1-4), Edith May Kelly (grades 5-9)
1944-1945
Edith May Kelly (grades 5-8), Mary W. Klassen (grades 1-4)
1945-1946
Mary W. Klassen (grades 5-9), Anne Stoesz (grades 1-4)
1946-1947
Mary W. Klassen (grades 5-9), Anne Stoesz (grades 1-4)
1947-1948
Annie Bergmann (grades 1-4), Elizabeth Giesbrecht (grades 5-8, 1948), Anne Klassen (grades 5-8)
1948-1949
Elizabeth Giesbrecht (grades 5-10), Anne Neufeld (grades 1-4)
1949-1950
Jacob Bergen (grades 1-4), Clifford Milton Reimer (grades 5-10)
1950-1951
Clifford Milton Reimer (grades 1-9)
1951-1952
Andrew Rieger Sobering (grades 1-9)
1952-1953
John William Gross (grades 1-8)
1953-1954
John William Gross (grades 1-8)
1954-1955
Bernhard Alfred Klassen (grades 1-9)
1955-1956
Bernhard Alfred Klassen (grades 5-9), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1956-1957
Bernhard Alfred Klassen (grades 5-9), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1957-1958
Bernhard Alfred Klassen (grades 5-9), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1958-1959
Bernhard Alfred Klassen (grades 5-9), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1959-1960
Cornelius Goertzen (grades 5-9), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1960-1961
Cornelius Goertzen (grades 5-8), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1961-1962
Melvin Penner (grades 5-8), Martha Warkentin (grades 1-4)
1962-1963
Melvin Penner (grades 5-8), Hulda Plett (grades 1-4)
1963-1964
Melvin Penner (grades 5-8), Hulda Plett (grades 1-4)
1964-1965
Benjamin “Ben” Hiebert (grades 5-8), Hulda Plett (grades 1-4)
1965-1966
Benjamin “Ben” Hiebert (grades 5-8), Alice Ann Plett (grades 1-4)
1966-1967
Benjamin “Ben” Hiebert (grades 6-8), Linda Hildebrand (grades 1-3), (grades 4-5, see Ridgewood School South)
1967-1968
Helen Kornelson (grades 6-8), Hilda Anne Unger (grades 1-3), (grades 4-5, see Ridgewood School South)
Period
Teachers
1956-1957
A. McNeill (grades 1-8, 1957)
1957-1958
Frank H. Toews (grades 1-8)
1958-1959
Frank H. Toews (grades 1-8)
1959-1960
Frank H. Toews (grades 1-8)
1960-1961
Lloyd Penner (grades 1-8)
1961-1962
Lloyd Penner (grades 1-8)
1962-1963
Frank Toews (grades 1-8)
1963-1964
Frank Toews (grades 1-8)
1964-1965
Janyce Marilyn Loewen (grades 1-8)
1965-1966
Charlotte Wiebe Quasso (grades 1-8, 1965), Lena St. Vincent (grades 1-8, 1966)
1966-1967
Elsie Hildebrand (grades 4-5)
1967-1968
Elvira Laise Dueck (grades 4-5)
Among the other teachers of Ridgewood School Elizabeth Nesbitt (1883-?), Ivorny M. Clyhorn (1893), S. Ga? (1893), Louis J. Loader (1894), W. H. Elliott (1895-1896), Annie W. McFarlane (1897-1899), Alonzo V. White (1900), Ernest T. Leech (1900), Olive E. Steel (1900), Linnie R. Kennedy (1901), Edith Shantz (1902), George A. McLelland (1903), Mildred A. Middleton (1904), Robert Adrian Borland (1905-1906), Mildred Bain (1907), Florence Campbell (1908), Christine Forrester (1909), Gladys Smith (1910), Albert H. McCorman [McGorman?] (1911), Jeanette Hamilton (1911), Velva V. Morrow (1912), Helen B. Corbett (1913), Dora Jonasson (1914), Eva G. Graham (1915), Christy Anne Keating (1915-1916, 1917), Rachel I. Hill (1916), Mary C. Unger (1918-1919), E. C. Keating (1919-1921), Nellie M. Glover (1921-1922), Winnifred C. Jeeves (1922), Anne E. Gilchrist (1923-1924), Anna G. Steel (1924-1925), Annabel T. Sloan (1925-1926), Lena F. Reimer (1926-1927), Alexander McNeill (1927-1930), Nellie Irene Keating (1930-1935), Anita Olympia Heim (1935-1936), Benjamin Unruh (1936-1939), and Edith May Kelly (1939-1941).
Students and teacher beside the old Ridgewood School (circa 1933)
Source: Education Department Report, 1933, Manitoba Legislative Library.
The new Ridgewood School building, erected at a cost of $6,000 (circa 1920)
Source: Education Department Report, 1920, Manitoba Legislative Library.
The former Ridgewood School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1215.
The former Ridgewood School building (March 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.57451, W96.61632
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ridgewood Evangelical Mennonite Cemetery (RM of Ste. Anne)
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.
Schools - Our Heritage: From 46 School Districts to Hanover Unitary School Division, 1878-1968 by John K. Schellenberg, Steinbach: The Board of the Hanover School Division No. 15, May 1985.
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, Ridgewood School No. 274 Registers of Attendance, GR2656, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Ridgewood School No. 274 Daily Registers, GR2656, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 16 June 2021
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