Historic Sites of Manitoba: Souris School No. 285 (Souris, Municipality of Souris-Glenwood)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Souris School District was established formally, in Souris, in 1884. Originally occupying a wood frame structure, the school moved into a two-storey, brick building in 1894, designed by Brandon architect Walter Henderson Shillinglaw. In 1912, a second school building intended as a Collegiate, designed by architects Thomas Sinclair and Carter Hawkins Brindle, was erected by contractor Alfred Edward Bullock.

In January 1960, the school became Souris Consolidated School No. 2388 when it was consolidated with several districts from the surrounding countryside, including Breezelawn School No. 169, Riverview School No. 279, Whitefield School No. 473, Botany School No. 486, Huntingdon School No. 542, and Wolflea School No. 590. As other rural schools closed, such as Lily School No. 382, their students came here too.

The collegiate building was demolished in 1960 but the original building continued to be used until at least the 1990s. It too was eventually demolished.

Principals

Period

Principal

1890

Henry Lamont Adolph (1862-1940)

1890-1892

J. W. Edwards

1893

John F. Walker

1894-1896

John Wentworth “Buckshot” Beckett (1870-1953)

1896-1897

Thomas Lewis Arnett (1873-1952)

1897-1898

Charles Andrews Huston (1876-1922)

1898-1901

Samuel Henry Forrest (1873-1963)

1901-1902

Harry Harvey Greenway (1879-1906)

1902-1909

Joseph William Gordon (1868-1954)

1910

James Erron Stanley Dunlop (1882-1945)

1910-1913

?

1913-1916

Robert McKay Stevenson (1882-1970)

1916-1917

Sydney E. Clark (1880-1963)

1917-1920

William Dakin (c1873-?)

1920-1922

J. E. Cooper

1922-1923

Henry Dennison

1923-1929

Grace Frances Huntley (1891-1977)

1929-1930

C. J. Burrows

1930-1932

Melvin T. Woods

1932-1935

Wallace Henry McIntyre (1904-1960)

1935-1938

George E. Pickard

1938-1941

George Archibald Coulthard (1890-1964)

1941-1945

Maurice Raphael [Ray] Loree (1910-?)

1945-1946

Walter Humphrey Wilfred Walker (1908-1974)

1946-1947

Bertha E. Nelson

1947-1951

Samuel Alfred Wright (1900-1966)

1951-1962

James Alvin Leslie (?-1973)

1962-1967

J. J. Gisinger

1967-1973

M. Zuk

?

Wilfrid Laurier “Laurie” Tomasson (c1920-1998)

Teachers

The early teachers at Souris School were Reverend J. M. Harrison (1883), George A. Crostwaite (1884), Louise Lynch (Spring 1885), Louisa Butch (Fall 1885), P. McTavish (Fall 1885), Henry Lamont Adolph (Spring 1886 - Spring 1887), John A. McKay (Fall 1887), ? (1888), and Henry Lamont Adolph (1889).

School Year

Teachers

1890

Henry Lamont Adolph (senior grades, spring), J. W. Edwards (senior grades, fall), Georgina Nesbitt (spring), Minnie Steele (fall)

1891

J. W. Edwards (senior grades), Lizzie L. Nichol (fall), Minnie Steele (spring)

1892

J. W. Edwards (senior grades), Alice H. Wood

1893

John F. Walker (senior grades), Alice H. Wood

1894

John Wentworth Beckett (senior grades), W. W. Bride (spring), B. Hunter (fall), Martha Slater (fall), Alice H. Wood (spring)

1895

John Wentworth Beckett (senior grades), Celia Calder, Belle Foster (fall), B. D. Hunter (spring), Martha J. Slater

1896

Thomas Lewis Arnett (fall) John Wentworth Beckett (senior grades, spring), Celia Calder, Jessie Dickie, Charles Andrews Huston (fall), Martha J. Slater

1897

Thomas Lewis Arnett (spring), Celia Calder, Jessie Dickie, Charles Andrews Huston, Martha J. Slater. (Fall records incomplete)

1898

Celia Calder, A. Colridge (spring), Jessie Dickie (spring), Lina DuVal (fall), Samuel Henry Forrest (senior grades, fall), Charles Andrews Huston (senior grades, spring), Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart (fall)

1899

Celia Calder (spring), Lina DuVal, Samuel Henry Forrest (senior grades), Maude McCrossan (fall), Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart

1900

Olive M. Bawden (spring), Lina DuVal (spring), Samuel Henry Forrest, Ray H. Hall (fall), Maude McCrossan, Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart, Alfred White (fall)

1901

Samuel Henry Forrest (spring, senior grades), Harry Harvey Greenway (senior grades, fall), Ray H. Hall, Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart, Alfred White

Other teachers at Souris School included William John Wallace, George Love Dibblee, Richard “Dick” Moore, Eliza Briggs Dolmage (c1915-1922), Frank Jacob Harder (1930s), Leonore Cowie (1947-1948), Ila Clark Lang (1947-1953), Charles Middlemiss Langford, and Robert McIlroy “Bob” Cross.

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of Souris Collegiate, right, and Public School, left

Postcard view of Souris Collegiate, right, and Public School, left (no date)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2012-0037

Souris School with Collegiate in the background

Souris School with Collegiate in the background (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 14.

Souris Schools

Souris Schools (no date)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, George Harris Fonds, Acc. 1979-141, P7454, Album 22, Page 36.

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.62118, W100.25712
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“Souris,” Western Sun [Brandon], 7 July 1898, page 1.

“Souris,” Brandon Daily Sun, 25 August 1900, page 2.

“School Board meets,” Brandon Daily Sun, 18 July 1901, page 4.

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“Brandon firm given contract,” Brandon Sun, 1 June 1911, page 2.

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.

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950.

Manitoba Permit Teachers of World War II, compiled by Louisa Loeb, Winnipeg: Hyperion Press Ltd., 2007.

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 25 February 2024

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