Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sidney School No. 607 (Sidney, Municipality of North Norfolk)

Link to:
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

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 V. Domitrack (1908-1978)
1956-1960	Frank Cecil Jacobs (1914-2002)
1960-1962	J. R. Fawcett

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

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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