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This one-storey brick and stone building was designed by architect Henry Sandham Griffith, and built in 1902 at a cost of about $20,000 by contractor Joseph-Azarie Senecal. It featured four classrooms on its main floor, with a library, laboratory, parlour, kitchen, dining hall, and dormitory. A recreation room and mechanical appliancees were in its basement.
The building was used to provide bilingual training for French teachers until 1916 when the provincial government repealed part of the Public Schools Act and teacher training became English only.
In 1923, the building was purchased by Les Missionnaires Oblates (Oblate Sisters) and converted to a boys’ residential school called le Jardin de l’Enfance. A two-storey addition was made on the west side in 1928. Ten years later, it became a residential and domestic training facility for girls and young women, between 15 years and early 20s, known as Ecole Menagere Notre Dame. The residents lived in dormitories with curtains to create “rooms”, each of which contained a dresser, clothes cupboard, nightstand, and bed. There were communal washrooms. They were given breakfast and supper, plus a packed lunch was offered every day, included in the rent. They were subject to a 11:00 PM curfew unless they had an evening or night job. Training during the fall, winter, and spring included methods of food preparation, meal planning, baking, sewing, home maintenance, child care, and family budgeting.
Ecole Menagere Notre Dame ceased operations by 1972. The building was converted to housing for elderly people and renamed Foyer Notre Dame, later Residence Langevin. It was sold by the Oblate Sisters in 1980 and subsequently connected by a one-storey addition to the 147-suite Accueil Colombien at 200 rue Masson.
The building is a municipally-designated historic site.
Period
Principal
1900-?
Roger Goulet (1867-1946)
No information
Postcard view of St. Boniface Normal School (no date)
Source: Rob McInnes
Postcard view of Ecole Menagere Notre Dame (circa 1943)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2017-0088
The former St. Boniface Normal School (May 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former St. Boniface Normal School (January 2018)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
The former St. Boniface Normal School (November 2021)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89145, W97.12041
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Henry Sandham Griffith (1865-1943)
Memorable Manitobans: Joseph-Azarie Senecal (1841-1917)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Brandon Normal School / Model Room School / Agricultural Extension Centre (1129 Queens Street, Brandon)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Dauphin Normal School / Whitmore School (First Street SW, Dauphin)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitou Normal School (Main Street, Manitou, Municipality of Pembina)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Central School / Portage Normal School / Prince Charles School (Third Street Southwest, Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: St. Boniface Normal School (210 rue Masson, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba School for the Deaf (500 Shaftesbury, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Mulvey School (750 Wolseley Avenue, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Central School No. 944 (1899-1954)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Old Central School (Tenth Street, Brandon)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Victoria School (32 Fifth Street SE, Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba
Public Buildings Erected and Improved by the Government of Manitoba during the Years 1900-1906, Government of Manitoba, December 1906. [Copy at Archives of Manitoba]
Annual Report of the City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee, 2005.
St. Boniface Normal School / Residence Langevin (210 rue Masson), Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee, July 1989.
We thank Rob McInnes, Ed Rootsaert, and Elizabeth Lansard for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 December 2024
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