Historic Sites of Manitoba: Royal Oak School No. 1354 (Municipality of McCreary)

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 18-21-15 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 Miss Houston, Annie A. Campbell, Margaret Inkster, Robert Doucette, Raymond Pannell, F. R. Watson, Ethel P. Cook, Kitty Ashby, G. Bechela, Robert Tod, Mary Kerr, Helen Banta (1920), H. Sigurdson, M. Waite, Alma Holmes, Gladys Frank, J. M. Carmichael, H. Effler, J. F. Ennis, M. E. Tedford, Elinor Kronberg, I. M. Hornbeck, J. Everall, Sheila Doherty, N. Ward, Eileen English, Aileen Jones, Dorothy Allen, Ruth Robinson, Edith Garton, Alice McNaughton, Irene Van Dusen, Leonard Tyerman, Leila Roby, Audrey Radcliffe, Vivian Finn, Elsie Taylor, and Percival Chegwin.

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 Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.80862, W99.55507 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks

Sources:

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.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 25 August 2020

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