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Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ardal School No. 1292 (Arborg)

The map location shown for this Historic Site of Manitoba is APPROXIMATE.
If you know its exact location, please contact us at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.

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

The Ardal School District was organized formally in June 1904 although classes had begun informally 1903 in the first community hall located one mile west of Arborg (at the time part of the Rural Municipality of Bifrost) on River Lot 14. In 1905, a school was built in Arborg, just east of the railway tracks. It was replaced in 1912 by a new two-classroom structure located just east of David Avenue.

A four-room school building was destroyed by fire on 16 January 1950. Before a seven-room replacement was constructed later that year, classes were held in the Arborg Community Hall and the Federated Church. The Arborg Collegiate opened in 1961, with additional classroom space used in the Arborg Town Hall.

In 1966, the school district became part of the Arborg Consolidated School District No. 2441.

Principals

Period

Principal

1922-1924

William Skidmore (c1885-?)

1924-1925

Frederick Ladlay “Fred” Bousfield (1865-1957)

1925-1927

H. S. Einarson

1927-1930

Karl Baldwin Thorkelson (1896-?)

1930-1932

John Ensworth Morison (1896-1983)

1932-1935

Jon Kristinn Laxdal (1900-1971)

1935-1936

Walter Thorvaldur Fredrickson (1907-1974)

1936-1940

Franz Julius Solmundson (1907-1989)

1940-1941

Elin Salome Halldorson (1887-1970)

1941-1944

Claude Amnesty Joyce (1908-1997)

1944-1948

Michael John Mazur (1913-2011)

1948-1949

Albert Lionel “Ab” Richardson (1910-1982)

1949-1953

B. P. Giesbrecht

1953-1955

Frank U. Dyck

1955-1961

Miss Sigurlanag S. Johnson

1961-1987

George Lysak (1932-2021)

Teachers

School Year

Teachers

1966-1967

George Lysack, Lorna Martin, Lorraine Reznik, Bernice Finnson, Victor Borgford, Tony Sorokowski, Wayne Hess, Kris Gudmondson, Ruth Falk, Ellen Borgfjord, Florence Lisowick, Patricia Robertson, Mary Solar, Julia Bidochka, Joe Gula, Gordon Bardarson, N. Surminski

Among the other teachers who worked at Ardal School were Bjorn I. Sigvaldason (1904, 1906-1907, later Reeve of the RM of Bifrost), Dr. J. P. Palsson (1905-1906), Mr. I. W. S. Duncan (1907-1908), Mr. M. O. Gudmundson (1908-1909), Miss Olson (1909-1910), Miss K. Skulason, Miss O. Johnson, Miss Kerr (1964-1965), Miss Bardal (1964-1965), Helga Bardal, Mrs. Null, Mr. Null, Mabel Joseph, Kitty Prout, Murial Guppy, Elma Killington, Margaret Chalmers, Miss McKelvy, Miss Louck, Charles H. Egan, Ruth Swanson, Miss Pronto, Mr. Holmes, Mrs. Holmes, Jonasina Stefanson, Miss L. Johannesson, K. Hallson, Ella Wood (1916), Ingibjorg Peturson, C. J. Wood, Emma Sigurdson (1916), Laura Sigurjonson, H. G. Laycup, J. K. Laxdal, Olga Podolick, Amelia Julius, Lenore Denby, Sella Johnson, Margaret Sigurdson, S. Boyanowski, Josephine Olafson, Ingibjorg Jakobsson, Einar Einarsson, L. Magnusson, M. E. Foster, G. W. Denstedt, S. Halldorson, Hildur Arnason, Mary Foster, William Dueck, Ellen Borgfjord, Helga Gudmundson, F. Nicolson, P. Mudery, M. J. Mazur, Anne Prychun, Mary Bielek, Metta Thorkelson, Gladys Arnold, A. L. Richardson, Mrs. Richardson, Olga Podolick, Kristin Skulason, Mary Shebeski, Mrs. MacEachern, Mrs. Rose Podruski, Donald Bjornson, Frank Dyck, Agnes Small, Miss Dickson, Mrs. P. Stanger, H. J. Vanselau, John Allan Clarke, Florence Lisowick, Kristin Sigvaldason, Robert Amidee Contin, Skuli Bodvarson, Kristin Johnson, Lucien Lacroix, Harry Hryhorka, Mr. Kristolovich, Emily Pawlyk, Jean Grushka, Shirley Baumgartner, Judith Wopnford, Marvin Marykuca, Joe Gula, Inga Hokanson, Ted Jaremy, Jocelyn Zebrinski, L. M. Johannson, Julia Bodochka, Terrence Rouge, Tony Sorokowski, Sylvia Olafson, Gladys Gudmondson, Sandra Whitehead, Sharon Holding.

Photos & Coordinates

Ardal School

Ardal School (no date) by H. D. Cumming
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 92.

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.90634, W97.21150
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

A History of Education in the Evergreen School Division by John C. Gottfried, MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1965.

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.

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

A Century Unfolds: History of Arborg and District, 1889-1987, researched and compimled by the Arborg Historical Society, 1987. [Legislative Library of Manitoba, F5649.A73 Cen]

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 22 January 2023

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