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

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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 (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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