Historic Sites of Manitoba: Melita School No. 440 / Antler River Museum (41 Ash Street, Melita)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The museum occupies the former building of the Melita Consolidated School No. 440 in the Town of Melita. Constructed in 1893, on a design by architect W. H. Shillinglaw, it was a four-room school with its main entrance on the south side. Four more rooms were added in 1905 and brick veneer was added later. Cornerstones are located in the south and northwest corners of the building. Through the years, the rural schools that consolidated with it included Bede School No. 1683, Brown School No. 625, Chesterfield School No. 408, Dobbyn School No. 986, Peninsula School No. 907, Sourisford School No. 906, and West Brenda School No. 388.

On the grounds in front of the museum is a bell cast in 1910 bearing the names of Melita municipal officials that year: Mayor R. M. Graham; councillors R. McB. McKay, T. S. Menarry, T. W. Oxley, W. Griffith, and James Robertson; and secretary-treasurer and constable John Graves. Nearby is a plaque commemorating those from Melita School killed in the First World War, and a plaque describing the ancient Aboriginal traders of southern Manitoba, erected by the Manitoba Heritage Council. Also on the grounds is a small outbuilding housing the Fred Jensen collection of mounted animal specimens.

Exhibits inside the museum include:

• Old-time picture room with walls covered in photographs of Melita and the surrounding country
• Aboriginal heritage room with an extensive collection of projectile points, baskets, grinders, stone hammers, dioramas, and more
• Rural school room recreating a turn-of-the-century, one-room school with desks, pot-bellied stove, water cooler, readers, textbooks and library
• Pioneer home room circa 1900 with furniture and articles in the parlour, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, and back shed
• Military room containing uniforms, badges, medals and equipment used in two world wars, and a memorial to those killed in them
• Main floor corridor with agricultural exhibits including an 1881 breaking plow, sleigh with buffalo robe, saws, axes, farm tools, and the first linotype machine used by a newspaper in Western Canada
• Wildlife exhibit containing over 300 specimens of mounted birds, egs, and other animals
• Art gallery of work by local artists from the surrounding community
• Antiques room containing many items used in earlier times
• Community history room including exhibits on organizations that have operated in the district, including the Browns Fastball Club, Masons (Oriental Lodge No. 54), IOOF (Lodge No. 20), Memorial Hospital, and Anglican, Roman Catholic, and United Churches. Also featured are photographs and school record books for several small schools that operated in the vicinity: South Antler School No. 351 (1884-1962), West Brenda School No. 388 (1885-1960), Chesterfield School No. 408 (1885-1964), Purple Hill School No. 487 (1887-1959), Brown School No. 625 (1891-1961), Tremblay School No. 707 (1892-1959), and Peninsula School No. 907 (1897-1961).
• Fashions exhibit with turn-of-the-20th-century clothing, dolls, and carriages
• Antique tool display with over 1000 wrenches and other hand tools, including a display of miniature-scale horses and wagons, and cast iron seats from antique farm equipment
• Miscellaneous exhibits including a display on the Melita town council (1927-2002) and profiles of noteworthy Melita citizens

Principals

Period	Principal
1893-1895	George Darling Shortreed (1870-1940)
1896-1899	?
1899	Charles William “Charlie” St. John (1874-1951)
1899-1900	Ernest Forster Haffner (1876-1942)
1900-1903	John Henry Conklin (1876-1955)
1903-1904	Samuel Couch
1904-1905	Duncan Crerar (1877-1910)
1905-1908	William Fletcher Loucks (1876-1953)
1908-1911	David Williamson Yuill (1878-1970)
1911-1913	Herbert Wellington Huntley (1879-1974)
1913-1915	George Robert Farrar Prowse (1860-1946)
1915-1916	William McLean Eadie (1868-1935)
1916-1918	Edward Sandford Lord (1869-1922)
1918-1923	John Alexius Peterson (c1885-1959)
1923-1924	David Iverach (1871-1946)
1924-1928	Albert Livingstone “Bert” Mills (1901-1984)
1928-1934	George Isaac Herman Garrett (1884-1977)
1934-1936	Henry Irvine Graham (1903-1991)
1936-1940	William Skidmore (c1885-?)
1940-1942	Edward Eldjarn Johnson (1900-1978)
1942-1943	Howard Melville Dunfield (1912-2000)
1943-1949	Sanford Stephen Harvey (1911-1980)
1949-1950	Raymond Ronald Bailey (1922-2015)
1950-1951	Gordon W. McIvor
1951-1955	Richard R. “Dick” Partridge (1922-1990)
1955-1956	James Ogel Beckstead (1883-1985)
1956-1957	Johann Edvald Sigurjonsson (1900-1972)
1957-1959	Arthur Kendall Stratton (1895-1961)
1959-1961	James Keith Cooper (1931-2000)
1961-1963	John Wilkie
1963-1965	Glen Wayne Hanna
1965-1970	Gary G. Gordon
1970-1971	Manhomohan Malhi
1971-1973	William G. McGavin
1973-1975	Jean A. Beaumont (1943-2016)
1975-1976	Ted Yarema
1977-1979	Elroy Tank
1979-1980	Joe Mudrey
1980-1981	Ken Karlander

Teachers

School Year	Teachers
1916-1917	Nellie Amy (grades 2-3), Jean Brown (grades 4 & 6), Edward Sandford Lord (grade 11), Robert Cecil Paris (grades 7-8), Jessie R. Phoenix (grades 9-10), Ila M. Pollock (grade 1), Fanny Woodlinger (grades 2-4)

Among the other teachers at Melita School were W. G. Hume and William J. Grant.

Photos & Coordinates

Postcard view of Melita School showing the start of construction for its expansion from four to eight classrooms (circa 1905) Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2013-0178 Melita High School building erected in 1906 (1906) Source: Education Department Report, 1906, Manitoba Legislative Library. Melita Consolidated School on Fair Day (26 September 1917) Source: Education Department Report, 1917, Manitoba Legislative Library. Children exercising outside Melita School (no date) by George Hunter Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 56. Postcard view of Melita Collegiate (no date) Source: Rob McInnes, MN0031 Melita School (August 1966) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Melita 12. Antler River Museum (2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Anti-tank gun at the Antler River Museum, on loan from the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum (September 2012) Source: Tighe McManus Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.27308, W100.99186 denoted by symbol on the map above

Melita School Students Killed in the First World War

Name	Occupation	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
Lewis Harold Barnard	Bank Clerk	23rd Battalion, Army	Lieutenant	31 October 1892	25 August 1916
Joseph Ralph Bilton	Farmer	43rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	23 August 1895	16 November 1917
Edgar William Brook [Melita, Victoria Methodist]	Farmer	16th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	23 March 1890	8 October 1916
Albert Vail Cosgrove [First Baptist, Melita, Next of Kin]	Chauffeur	27 Squadron, Royal Air Force	Second Lieutenant	21 March 1894	25 September 1918 (died in aerial combat)
Kenneth Brown Downie	Student	43rd Battery, Canadian Field Artillery	Gunner	18 October 1894	10 August 1916
Wilfred John Evans [Reston]	Student	Canadian Infantry	Lance Corporal	9 September 1894	15 September 1916
Albert Edward Farmer	Farmer	28th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	2 July 1895	3 September 1918
Herbert Joshua Fletcher	Farmer	78th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	23 February 1897	24 April 1917
Thomas Veitch Gibson	Hardware Merchant	46th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	12 October 1884	8 April 1917
Andrew Benson Grierson	Farm Labourer	46th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	26 April 1897	12 April 1917
Frederick Hart	Farmer	5th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	23 February 1888	25 July 1916
Wilfred Maurice Holden	Bank Clerk	1st Canadian Mounted Rifles	Private	25 November 1895	20 August 1917
Franklin Robert Kelly [Melita, Victoria Methodist, Vimy Ridge]	Farmer	44th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	19 February 1896	11 May 1917
George Francis Gordon Pitcher	Farmer	46th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	1 May 1898	26 October 1917
Norman Allan Pope	Rodman	7th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	28 April 1887	4 June 1916
Franklin Saunby [Melita, Salvation Army]	Farmer	1st Canadian Mounted Rifles	Private	25 June 1896	24 July 1916
Howard Clarence Sparling	Mechanic	1st Ammunition Supply Park	Private	17 April 1893	5 June 1917
Harry Nelson Thompson	Civil Servant	5th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Lieutenant	6 October 1887	9 April 1917
F. J. Wheeler	?	?	?	?	?
Leslie Reuel Wilson	Farmer	102nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	26 January 1896	23 March 1917
Harold John Warin	Banker	Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry	Private	19 February 1893	12 April 1916

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Melita War Memorial (Melita)

Sources:

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

Antler River Museum brochure.

For the names of First World War casualities from Manitoba who do not appear on any physical monument in the province, see the Manitoba Historical Society War Memorial. If you know of a name that is omitted from this list, please contact the MHS War Memorial Researcher Darryl Toews (darryl@mhs.mb.ca).

Soldiers of the First World War - Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans Affairs Canada.

Financial support for research reported on this page was provided by the Manitoba Heritage Grants Program (2015-2016).

Antler River Historical Society Museum, Town of Melita.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

We thank James Kostuchuk, Tighe McManus, Rob McInnes, Nathan Kramer, and Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 11 December 2020

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