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Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Sidney School District was formally established in October 1889. The first school was located one-half mile south of the town of Sidney, at NW5-11-12W in what is now the Municipality of North Norfolk, and operated from 1890 to 1897, with Miss McLeod of Winnipeg as its first teacher. A two-room brick structure was opened in Sidney and operated from 1897 to 1906. A third, larger two-room frame structure held classes from 1906 to 1968. One of the districts buildings was expanded in 1921 based on architectural drawings of Gilbert C. Parfitt. A third room for the high school was added and operated from 1928 to June 1963, after which senior students were bused to Austin School or Carberry School. Two years after the school closed in 1968, the building was purchased from the Pine Creek School Division and used as a community centre. In July 2000, a monument was erected beside the former school building.
Inside the community centre are plaques commemorating local residents who served and were killed during military service in the First World War and Second World War, including an honour roll created by artist Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald.
Principals
Teachers
Among the early teachers of Sidney School were Lena McLeod (Spring-Fall 1890, Spring-Fall 1892), Henry Campbell (Spring-Fall 1891), Carrie S. Caryle (Spring-Fall 1893), Edgar S. Smith (Spring-Fall 1894, Fall 1896 - Fall 1897), F. Mayers (pt Spring 1895), W. Wagg (pt Spring 1895), R. L. Ross (Fall 1895), George H. Knowlton (Spring 1896), and Mary H. Hodgson (Spring-Fall 1898).
Period |
Teachers |
1899 |
William S. Emmerson [Emerson?] (all grades) |
1900 |
May Clarke (? grades, Spring), William S. Emmerson [Emerson?] (? grades, Spring), Lottie Maddin (? grades, Fall), Nettie Wilson (? grades, Fall) |
1901 |
May Clarke (senior grades, Spring), Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades, Fall), Nellie Wilson (junior grades) |
1902 |
Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), ? (junior grades) |
1903 |
Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), ? (junior grades) |
1904 |
Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), ? (junior grades) |
1905 |
Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), Charles L. Willis [Mills?] (junior grades; January - c. December; all grades, December) |
1906 |
William E. Kilpatrick (senior grades), Tena [Lena?] McIntosh (junior grades) |
1907 |
William E. Kilpatrick (senior grades, Spring), Tena [Lena?]McIntosh (junior grades), Ida Madill (senior grades, Fall) |
1908 |
Tena [Lena?] McIntosh (junior grades, Spring), Ida Madill (senior grades, Spring), Robert Moir (senior grades, Fall), Minie [Minnie?] M. Reid (junior grades, Fall) |
1909 |
Kate E. “Katie” Armstrong (junior grades, Fall), Leslie Ernest Grace (senior grades), Minnie M. Reid (junior grades, Spring) |
1910 |
Kate E. “Katie” Armstrong (junior grades), Leslie Ernest Grace (senior grades) |
1911 |
Kate E. “Katie” Armstrong (junior grades, pt Spring), Ethel A. Buckley (senior grades, pt Spring - Fall) Leslie Ernest Grace (senior grades, pt Spring), Margaret McKay (pt Spring - Fall) |
1912 |
(January-June only): Ethel A. Buckley (? grades), Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (? grades) |
1912-1913 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (senior grades), Laura G. Crewson (junior grades, Spring), Kemina M. McKay (pt Fall, junior grades), Margaret McKay (pt Fall, junior grades) |
1913-1914 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (senior grades), Laura G. Crewson (junior grades) |
1914-1915 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4) |
1915-1916 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4) |
1916-1917 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4) |
1917-1918 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4) |
1918-1919 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4) |
1919-1920 |
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4) |
1920-1921 |
Gertrude E. Jackson (grades 1-4), John James Jackson (grades 5-9) |
1921-1922 |
Beatrice Creasy (grades 1-4), John Erickson (grades 10-11), Louise Inkster (grades 5-9) |
Among the other teachers of Sidney School were Effie R. Johnson (1922), Mary E. Clark (1922-1924), W. C. Hodkinson (1923), Margaret A. Chalmers (1924), Aileen M. Moore (1924), Marjorie M. Shortreed (1925-1926), Bertha Nelson (1925), Harry Bond Hunter (1925-1927), Agnes Meta Neville (1927-1930), Florence C. Blair (1927-1928), Jean L. Babb (1928), Thomas Leslie Fox (1929-1930), Susan Menzies (1930-1935), Dorothy I. Bailey (1930-1932), Marjorie M. Muirhead (1932-1936), Muriel Moffatt (1935-1936), Margaret Jeannette Patterson (1936-1938), Muriel MacCunningham (1939-1940), Earla Gertrude Nattrass (1941), Jessie Murray Hannah (1941-1942), Jack H. Gibson (1942), Mrs. Betha Evelyn Gibson (1942-1947), D. Bruce Johnson (1943), Mrs. Rhoda E. Gibson (1943), Tranna F. Calvert (1946-1954), Donna W. Wedow (1948-1949), Kathleen Shoemaker (1950), Mrs. Donna W. Wright (1950-1956), Doreen M. Skogsterd (1954-1956), Mrs. Doreen Stephenson (1955-1956), Lucy Medevid (1955-1957), Muriel J. Cherry (1957-1959), Glen A. Lowe (1958-1963), Ethel A. Gregory (1963-1964), Mrs. W. Alton (1964-1965), Mrs. Perly Bell (1965), Mrs. Dave Sissons (1966-1967), and Penny Emisch Ham (1966-1967).
Photos & Coordinates

Sidney School building erected in 1906 (circa 1906) Source: Education Department Report, 1907, Manitoba Legislative Library.

Sidney School (no date) by A. B. Fallis
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 96.

Sidney School (June 1967) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Sidney 3.

The former Sidney School (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 895.

The former Sidney School (April 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Sidney School commemorative monument (April 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89834, W99.08553 denoted by symbol on the map above
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First World War Casualties
Name |
Occupation |
Service |
Rank |
Birth Date |
Death Date |
Arthur Allwood
[Brandon Armoury] |
Farmer |
8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Private |
17 August 1888 |
3 November 1917 |
Charles Edgar Atheling (Dykes) Bredin DSO
[Edrans, Next of Kin, Portage] |
Farmer |
28th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Major |
18 August 1876 |
18 November 1917 |
William Dines |
Farmer |
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles |
Corporal |
1 March 1892 |
29 September 1918 |
George Hunt |
Farm Labourer |
27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Private |
14 May 1886 |
3 May 1917 |
Stanley King
[Portage] |
Farmer |
8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Private |
13 May 1892 |
9 April 1918 |
John Lauder
[Cypress River] |
Farmer |
8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Private |
25 October 1896 |
28 April 1917 |
Charles William McElrea
[Next of Kin] |
Electrical Engineer |
2nd Army Troops Company, Canadian Engineers |
Sergeant |
6 August 1887 |
31 May 1917 |
Clarence Edwin McLachlan
[Carberry] |
Farmer's son |
78th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Private |
18 December 1896 |
19 February 1917 |
Alexander McNab
[Knox Presbyterian, Portage, Telephones] |
Telephone Inspector |
10th Battalion, Canadian Infantry |
Sergeant |
21 August 1891 |
24 May 1915 |
Joseph Edmond Sexton
[Carberry] |
Farmhand |
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles |
Private |
9 April 1888 |
20 December 1916 |
Sources:
“Sidney,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 March 1903, page 17.
“Town and general [E.K. Marshall, Principal of the Sidney School ...],” MacGregor Herald, 3 December 1903, page 8.
“Debentures for sale [Sidney School District No. 607],” Winnipeg Free Press, 12 October 1905, page 2.
“Austin [Mr. Willis ...],” MacGregor Herald, 4 January 1906, page 5.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #40 School District of Sidney, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Plans and shop drawings (GS 0100), Sidney School District, Addition, GR3125, Archives of Manitoba.
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
A Rear View Mirror: A History of the Austin and Surrounding Districts by Anne M. Collier, Altona: Friesen Printing, 1967.
Through Fields and Dreams: A History of the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk and MacGregor by The History Book Committee of the North Norfolk-MacGregor Archives, 1998, page 1161.
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.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
We thank Pearl Wieler and Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 13 October 2023
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