Historic Sites of Manitoba: Weiden School No. 1604 (RM of Mossey River)

The Weiden School District was established in December 1911 and a one-room schoolhouse was built in 1915 at SW1-29-17W in the Rural Municipality of Mossey River. Upon formation, the district was known as Wieden School, though its name was altered to Weiden around the late 1930s. In 1921, the district borrowed $1,600 to expand the school and build a two-room teacherage. It operated until 1938 when it was destroyed by fire. A replacement was acquired and operated on the same site, though its condition only six years later, in 1944, was noted within School Inspector reports as being structurally the worst school facility in the area by far and not worth effort to repair. A new $2,200 school building was authorized in the spring of 1946. The district was dissolved in 1967 and its area became part of the Duck Mountain School Division. The former school building remained at the site until the late 1980s or early 1990s. It was not there at the time of a site visit in 2012.

Among the teachers who worked at Weiden School were A. M. Jennen (1926), W. I. McGregor (1930-1931), M. Talpash (1934-1935), Frederick Samuel Zaplitny (1936-1937), Mrs. McGregor (1939), Mr. Litton (1942), Miss Linski (?-1944), Miss Kohalyk (1944-?), Batty Ann Cason (1950-1951), Lucy McCoun (1962-1963), Marie Szport (1957-1959), Bernice Zaplitny (1959-1963), A. F. Hyde (1963-1964), E. Taylor (1965-1967), Harry W. Chornoboy, Daniel J. Reese, and George E. Basham.

Students doing outdoor exercises at the original Weiden School (no date) by H. J. Everall Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 1. The former Weiden School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 818. The former Weiden School building (late 1980s) Source: Ed Arndt Site Coordinates (lat/long): N51.44980, W99.73243 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Rorketon East topographic map, 62O/5 East, Edition 1, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].

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.

Opening the Door: The Past Comes Alive: The History of the Rural Municipality of Lawrence by Lawrence Municipal History Committee, 1997, page 477-478. [Legislative Library of Manitoba, F5648.L39 Ope]

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), No. 8 - School District of Wieden , GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Wieden School District No. 1604, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), Lawrence Municipality, Weiden School District No. 1604 - Census Records, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Departmentally appointed school trustee files (E 0034), Lawrence Municipality, Weiden School District No. 1604 - Inspector Reports, GR1629, Archives of Manitoba.

Orders-In-Council (EC 0003B), Order-In-Council No. 36828, GR1530, Archives of Manitoba.

School division borrowing files (MA 0038), Weiden School District No. 1604, GR1798, Archives of Manitoba.

We thank Ed Arndt and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 14 October 2022

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