The Alma School District was established formally in July 1891, in what is now the Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes, although classes had begun the previous year. The name of the district was apparently selected by a student in the first class. A wood frame schoolhouse built at SE34-4-15W was used until 1905 when it was replaced by a one room brick structure, complete with full basement and oil-fueled furnace. The school closed in January 1961 and its remaining students went to Belmont Consolidated School No. 441.
The former schoolhouse still stands but has extensive structural deterioration, especially of its eastern wall. A wooden stud wall inside the school was built in an attempt to stabilize the structure. A monument stands next to the former school. The building has been subject to local concerns about health and safety and is slated for demolition in early 2022.
Among the teachers of Alma School were Alexander Tumoth (1890), Percy Brether (c1900), Jean Williamson (1948), Miss Munroe, Miss Tisdale, John Sutherland, Miss Donna McLean, Miss Anne Hawn, Miss Alice Embury, Mrs. Shirley Dubyts, Miss Irene Fitzpatrick, Miss McIntyre, Miss Marjorie Cleave, Miss Eva Croll, Ed Arndt (1961-1962), Miss Myrna Wray, Mr. P. Lougheed, K. M. Prowse, Miss Jean Cowell, Miss Pat Williams, Mr. McRae, Miss Evett, Miss Muriel Robinson, Miss Pinn, Miss Marion Lewis, Miss Jean Campbell, Miss M. Stintson, Mr. Johnson, Miss Anna McLean, Norman Smith, Miss Margaret Downey, Miss Ruth Watson, Miss Kinley, Miss Wall, Miss Mae Berry, Miss Harrower, Miss Katie Playfair, Henry Woods, Miss Murgatroid, Miss Shorthose, Miss Hazel Cunningham, Miss Valance, Miss Carvell, Miss Bailey, and Miss McGowan.
Alma School (no date) by W. J. Parr
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 106.
Alma School (1967) by Lawrence Stuckey
Source: Stuckey Collection, S. J. McKee Archives, Brandon University, 1-2002.3.3.BSW[337a]
The former Alma School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1335.
The former Alma School building (October 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Alma School building (October 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Alma School commemorative sign (October 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.34068, W99.41567
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
The Path of the Pioneers: Belmont and District, 1889-1989 by Belmont History Committee, 1989. [Legislative Library of Manitoba, F5649.B44 Pat]
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
We thank Justin De Baets for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 January 2022
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