The Royal Oak School District was organized formally in August 1905 and a school building made of hand-made concrete blocks (the only one of its kind in the area) was erected the following year, on SW18-21-15 West of the Principal Meridian in the Municipality of McCreary. The school opened in 1906 under teacher John Scott, who was paid an annual salary of $875.
In 1936, the school became part of the McCreary Municipal School system. By 1950, the district had reformed and the school operated until June 1959 when it closed due to declining enrollment. Its remaining students went to McCreary Consolidated School No. 1348. The building is no longer present at the site but a monument topped with a model of the school, unveiled on 30 July 1994, commemorates it.
Among the teachers of Royal Oak School were Laura K. Houston [Huston] (Spring-Fall 1907), Stanislas Pitre (Spring 1908), Cecil E. P. Owens (Fall 1908), Annie A. Campbell (?-?), Margaret J. Inkster (March-July & July-December 1909, January-June 1910), Robert Doucette (Fall 1910 - Spring 1911), Gertrude M. Hayes (Fall 1911 - Spring 1912), Raymond George Pannell (November-December 1912), Vida M. Poule (January-June 1913), F. R. Watson (August 1913 - January 1914), Ethel P. Cook (February-June 1914 & Fall 1914), Edgar John Jarvis (Spring 1915), Grace Wallace (Fall 1915 - Spring 1917), Emma Serbin (Fall 1917 - Spring 1918), C. E. “Kitty” Ashby (August-November 1918, January-March 1919, April-June 1919), school closed due to influenza pandemic (6 November 1918 - 3 January 1919), school closed due to influenza (24 March - 4 April 1919), [T/G?] Bechela (August-September 1919), school closed; no teacher (11 September - 14 October 1919), Stanley Leask (October-December 1919), Robert Tod (January-June 1920), Mary Nitanas Kerr (August 1920 - May 1921), school closed; health officers order (11-19 October 1920), school closed; teacher ill (6-10 December 1920), Helen E. Banta (May-June 1921 & Fall 1921 - Spring 1922), H. Sigurdson (Fall 1922), M. M. Waite (Spring 1923), Alma May Holmes (Fall 1923 - Spring 1924, Fall 1930 - Spring 1932), Gladys M. Frank (Fall 1924 - Spring 1925), J. M. Carmichael (August 1925 - March 1926), Hilda Effler (March-June 1926), John Francis Ennis (Fall 1926 - Spring 1930), Margaret Elizabeth Tedford (Fall 1932 - Spring 1933), Elinor Adelaide Kronberg (Fall 1933 - Spring 1935), Isabell Mary Hornbeck (Fall 1935 - Spring 1937), Janet Melrose Everall (Fall 1937 - Spring 1941), Sheila Margaret Doherty (Fall 1941), Norma Mae Ward (Spring 1942), Eileen Margaret English (Fall 1942 - Spring 1944, Aileen Frances Jones (Fall 1944 - Spring 1945), Dorothy Pauline Allen (Fall 1945 - Spring 1946), Ruth Jean Robinson (Fall 1946 - Spring 1947), Edith Marian Garton (Fall 1947 - Spring 1948), Alice Mae McNaughton (Fall 1948 - Spring 1949), Frances Irene Van Dusen (Fall 1949 - Spring 1950), Leonard George “Len” Tyerman (Fall 1950 - Spring 1951), Leila Roby (Fall 1951), Alice Mae Greentree (Spring 1952), Audrey Jean Radcliffe (Fall 1952), Vivian Mabel May Finch (Spring 1953), Elsie Taylor (Fall 1953 - Spring 1954), and Percival William J. Chegwin (Fall 1954 - Spring 1955).
Royal Oak School (no date) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 103.
Royal Oak School commemorative monument (May 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.80862, W99.55507
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks
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.
McCreary: Milestones and Memories by McCreary History Book Committee, 1987, pages 149-150.
Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques and Manitoba Community Commemorative Plaques, Fiscal Year 1994-1995, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Citizenship, page 41.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Royal Oak School District No. 1354 - Daily Registers, GR6770, Archives of Manitoba.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 8 January 2026
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