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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.
Period
Principal
1900
?
1901
May Clark
1901-1905
Edgar Kenny Marshall (c1876-1956)
1906-1907
William E. Kilpatrick
1907-1908
Ida Madill
1908
Robert Moir
1909-1911
Leslie Ernest Grace (1881-1954)
1911-1912
Ethel A. Buckley
1912-1920
Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (1882-1954)
1920-1921
John James Jackson
1921-1922
John Erickson (?-?)
1922-1924
Benjamin Hodkinson (1864-1948)
1924-1925
Ruth Parker (1894-1953)
1925-1930
Sarah Ann Sproat (1885-1976)
1930-1935
Jean Willis Little
1935-1937
David S. Shellenberg (?-?)
1937-1939
Claude Amnesty Joyce (1908-1997)
1939-1941
Cecil Cullen Foster (1911-1998)
1941-1942
Irene Rose Bonniman
1942-1943
D. Bruce Johnson
1943-1945
Anne Margaret Zalubniak [Zalubnick]
1945-1948
Jack Hersey Gibson (1917-2009)
1948-1949
Kenneth Donald Bruce (1892-1968)
1949-1956
William Vladimir “Bill” Domitrack (1908-1978)
1956-1960
Frank Cecil Jacobs (1914-2002)
1960-1962
J. R. Fawcett
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).
Sidney School building erected in 1906 (circa 1906)
Source: Education Department Report, 1907, Manitoba Legislative Library.
Sidney School (circa 1910) by W. J. Bates
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2024-0028
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
The former Sidney School (October 2024)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Sidney School commemorative monument (April 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Sidney School commemorative monument (October 2024)
Source: Rose KuzinaSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89834, W99.08553
denoted by symbol on the map above
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
“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, Darryl Toews, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 8 January 2025
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