The Sylvester Hill School District, named for local settler Sylvester Brockwell, was established formally in March 1906 and a one-room schoolhouse, made of locally cast concrete blocks, was built at SE35-16-24W in what is now the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead. It closed in 1938 and the remaining students went to Raven Lake School. The district was dissolved in 1954. The building was demolished and the hill on which it sat was leveled. A sign commemorates it at the site.
Among the teachers of Sylvester Hill School were Florence Ruth Nicholson (1910s) and Velma Reagh (1937-1938).
Sylvester Hill School (no date) by J. B. Morrison
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 106.
Sylvester Hill School commemorative sign (June 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.40365, W100.66933
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
MHS Resources: Manitoba Bricks and Blocks
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.
Ripples On The Lake: A History of Shoal Lake Municipality, 1884-1984 by Shoal Lake History Book Committee, 1984.
We thank Malcolm Bell for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 13 February 2021
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