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The Woodhaven School District No. 2093 was formed in October 1921, with organizational meeting of the new district held at 135 Sunnyside Boulevard. At the time of its founding, the district’s population was around 800, with most having moved to the area within the two preceding years. Prior to the school’s opening, students of the area attended Britannia School.
In April 1922, a construction contract was awarded to Williams & Ireland Company, and a one-storey, three-classroom brick structure was erected at a total cost of $37,000. The school was sited on three acres of land backing onto Sturgeon Creek, on Glendale Avenue (later Glendale Boulevard). The brick structure included four classrooms and an auditorium, and was opened officially on 17 November 1922 by Robert Fletcher at a ceremony attended by William Dowell Bayley and citizens of the school district. There were 88 students in grades 1 to 10 under the supervision of three teachers: Inez Watson (grades 1 to 3), L. M. McLure (grades 4 to 6), and Teaching-Principal Gordon Scott (grades 7 to 10). Instruction at the grade 11 level was added the following year.
In May 1924, the school became part of the St. James Municipal School District and later the St. James School Division. In 1936, the school received a new foundation designed by the firm of Pratt and Ross and built by George Ephraim Baldry. Class growth continued and, in August 1954, the basement gymnasium was converted to a classroom.
To accommodate the growing needs and demands on an aging structure, a new school was designed by the architectural firm of Smith Carter and Katelnikoff, and constructed by the Roziere Construction Company at a cost of $118,000. It opened on 13 March 1957 and, despite several local requests for use of the former school building, it was demolished by a Mr. A. Vincent at no cost to the School Board.
Woodhaven School closed in June 1984 due to falling enrollment and the remaining students were transferred to Athlone School. At the time of its closing, the building had 12,600 square feet of space, eight classrooms, gymnasium, library, office space, and gas boiler heating. After community input, the School Division refused several submitted plans for the former school building and it was demolished in the mid-1990s to make way for a residential subdivision.
The datestone from the former school is located beneath a park bench at about N49.87235, W97.27048.
Period
Principal
1922-1923
William John Gordon Scott (1885-1953)
1923-1924
Frederick Donald MacKenzie (1882-1970)
1924-1928
?
1928-1930
William John “Bill” Wallace (1900-1988)
1930-1938
?
1938-1942
Irene Lovell (1892-1974)
1942-1949
John Frederick Woods (1905-1949)
1949-1952
William Harvey Van Sickle (1917-1982)
1952-1964
Paul Pura (1914-1999)
1964-1966
Donald Taylor “Don” McKinnon (1926-2012)
1966-1967
Ronald Edward “Ron” Littlejohn (1935-2017)
1967-1969
William “Bill” Engbrecht
1969-1973
George Brown
1973-1974
William Theodore “Bill” Betz (1936-2022)
1974-1981
Peter Sawatsky
1981-1982
Mr. J. Neufeld
1982-1984
Mrs. Anne Masniuk
School Year
Teachers
1922-1923
Lula Muriel McLure (grades 3-6), William John Gordon Scott (grades 7-10), Inez Isabel Watson (grades 1-3)
1923-1955
?
1955-1956
Miss Betty Gibson, Miss Adele Kolt, Miss P. E. Strowger
1956-1957
?
1957-1958
Neil Bobbie, Evelyn Brimacombe, Helen Briske, Shirley Gibb, Joyce Hill, Miss Laferriere, Dolores Paterson, Pearl Reid, Leona Senior, Mary Unger
1958-1959
Neil Bobbie, Joyce Hill, Dolores Paterson, Dorothy Prefontaine, Pearl Reid, Leona Senior
1959-1960
Doreen Davidson, Vivian Glass, Dolores Paterson, Dorothy Prefontaine, Pearl Reid, Harold Rempco
1960-1961
Doreen Davidson, Vivian Glass, Florence Lowry, Dolores Paterson, Jean Popoff, Ethyl Sloan, Jack Van Den Bossche
1961-1962
Doreen Davidson, Vivian Glass, Jean Hall, Peter Lewis, Dolores Paterson, Ethyl Sloan
1962-1963
Doreen Davidson, Vivian Glass, Jean Hall, Peter Lewis, Dolores Paterson, Ethyl Sloan
1963-1964
Doreen Davidson, Vivian Glass, Jean Hall, Ronald E. Littlejohn, Dolores Paterson, Pearl Reid, Ethyl Sloan
1964-1965
Doreen Davidson, Vivian Glass, Jean Hall, Ronald E. Littlejohn, Dolores Paterson, Mary Jane Ramsey, Pearl Reid, Ethyl Sloan
1965-1966
David Frye, Ronald E. Littlejohn, Ethel McPhail, Dolores Paterson, Jean Popoff, Mary Jane Ramsey, Pearl Reid, Ethyl Sloan, Frank H. Voth
1966-1967
William “Bill” Engbrecht, David William “Dave” Frye, Jean Hall, Ethel McPhail, Dolores Paterson, Mary Jane Ramsey, Pearl Reid, Ethyl Sloan
1967-1968
Dolores Fekete, David William “Dave” Frye, Shirley Gibb, Jean Hall, Ethel McPhail, Ethyl Sloan, Edith Stevens
1968-1969
Dolores Fekete, David William “Dave” Frye, Shirley Gibb, Beverly McConnel, Ethyl Sloan, May White, Beverly Zakaluk
1969-1970
Dolores Fekete, Shirley Gibb, Beverly McConnel, Ethyl Sloan, May White, Beverly Zakaluk
1970-1971
Dolores Fekete, Shirley Gibb, Pearl Reid, Beverly Sloan, Ethyl Sloan, May White, Beverly Zakaluk
1971-1972
Jeannetta Curtis, Colette Dauphinais, Shirley Gibb, Evelyn Hagen, Ethyl Sloan, May White
1972-1973
Colette Dauphinais, Shirley Gibb, Evelyn Hagen, Pearl Reid, Ethyl Sloan, May White, Beverly Zakaluk
1973-1974
Colette Dauphinais, Shirley Gibb, Evelyn Hagen, Georgina Sanford, Ethyl Sloan, May White, Beverly Zakaluk
1974-1975
Frances Chobotar, Evelyn Hagen, Georgia Purdy, Georgina Sanford, Ethyl Sloan, Lois Smellie, May White
1975-1984
?
Woodhaven School (circa 1935)
Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 30 March 1935, page 22.
Woodhaven School beside Sturgeon Creek (circa 1938)
Source: Belle Cameron
Woodhaven School (circa 1938)
Source: Belle Cameron
Datestone from the former Woodhaven School (September 2021)
Source: Nathan KramerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.87222, W97.27129
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Pratt and Ross
Historic Sites of Manitoba: The Hill Monument (Ashcroft Point, Winnipeg)
Manitoba Business: Smith Carter and Katelnikoff / Smith Carter Architects and Engineers / Architecture49
“Sturgeon Creek,” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 February 1922, page 5.
“Home and school building forecasts active season in construction industry,” Manitoba Free Press, 8 April 1922, page 20.
“Sturgeon Creek,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 13 April 1922, page 7.
“School building in St. James district illustrates school population growth,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 26 April 1922, page 2.
“St. James,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 18 November 1922, page 11.
“Jean Litchfield winner spelling bee at Woodhaven,” Manitoba Free Press, 2 April 1924, page 5.
“St. James has modern school,” Winnipeg Tribune, 30 March 1935 page 22.
“Further improvement to Woodhaven School,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 25, November 1936, page 10.
“Woodhaven has graduation and school display,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 July 1938 page 27.
“Trustees name Superintendent for St. James," Winnipeg Free Press, 17 August 1949, page 3.
“Woodhaven School gets new Principal," Winnipeg Tribune, 17 August 1949, page 7.
“St. James Municipal S.D. No. 7,” Winnipeg Free Press, 14 June 1952, page 32.
“Thirty-one new classrooms to start in St. James district,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 August 1954, page 3.
“Address List, Municipal School District of St. James No. 7,” St. James Assiniboia School Division.
“School tender notice [Woodhaven Elementary School,” Winnipeg Free Press, 12 June 1956, page 23.
“Official opening of Woodhaven School,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 May 1957, page 53.
“Women to join in quest of knowledge,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 October 1958, page 9.
“History of Woodhaven School, 127 Glendale Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1922-1974,” St. James Assiniboia School Division.
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.
“School closing plan irks parents' group,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 June 1983, page 3.
“St. James Assiniboia School Division No. 2 Request proposals to lease,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 June 1984, page 14.
“Seminary opponent had own school plan,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 September 1988, page 1.
“Woodhaven School too small for either plan, Ayers maintains,” Winnipeg Free Press, 19 September 1988, page 4.
“Empty schools go up for sale,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 May 1993, page B3.
“Process ignores community interests,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 August 1995, page A7.
Obituary [Pearl Reid], Winnipeg Free Press, 30 June 2010.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
We thank the St. James Assiniboia School Division and Belle Cameron for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 December 2022
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