Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Arden School District was formally established in October 1884 and a school building was erected three years later, in June 1887, at this site in the village of Arden, in the Rural Municipality of Lansdowne. It burned in 1890 and was replaced.
As settlement in the Arden area hastened through the early 20th century, a second school building was erected in 1909. As the consolidation movement continued, the school became Arden Consolidated School No. 341, in October 1919. Another building, known as the “Little School,” was built in 1920 on a design by Winnipeg architect Eldred Dodsworth Tuttle. By 1939, the school comprised three buildings, with grades 1 and 2 in the “Little School”, grades 3 to 5 in the “Middle School”, and grades 6 to 12 in the “High School”.
A new school building opened in 1954 and the “Little School” was moved to its present location on the south side of the Arden municipal office as a Seniors Centre. The “Middle School” became a private residence, first at Neepawa and later at Onanole. The “High School” building fell apart when an attempt was made to move it, and its parts were incorporated into several buildings around Arden. A new school operated until June 2001 when students began to be bused to Neepawa.
A monument commemorating the Arden School was dedicated at a ceremony on 14 October 2007. Its base is constructed from locally made concrete blocks recovered from a nearby derelict farmhouse.
Period
Principal
1900
Alfred Dickson (1876-1957)
1901
Joseph William Gordon (1868-1954)
1902-1904
?
1905-1906
J. Scott Cameron (?-?)
1906-1907
George Henry Ruttan (1880-1960)
1907-1908
James H. Marsh (?-?)
1908-1912
George Wesley Bartlett (1876-1950)
1912-1913
Harry Percival McPhail (1886-1964)
1913-1915
Frederick Harold “Fred” Burkholder (1888-1962)
1916-1917
Victor Harvey Hugo (1888-1972)
1917-1918
John E. Gillanters
1918-1919
Kathleen Farrell
1919-1920
Edward Sandford Lord (1869-1922)
1920-1921
Louise Anne Foreman Elliott (1894-1974)
1921-1923
John Elwood Ridd (1896-1986)
1923-1925
Percival Beresford Bennett (1884-1954)
1925-1927
James Clark Whenham (1896-1970)
1927-1928
Hazel Arretta Vandecar Foster (1897-1990)
1928-1929
Vivian Clarkson “Clark” Hardy (1897-1982)
1929-1936
Walter Fahrig (1889-1937)
1936-1939
George Scott Belton (1904-1967)
1939-1945
Elmenia Jean Mollard (1901-1991)
1945-1948
Henry Lambert Williams (1890-1976)
1948-1951
Abiah Davies Morgan (1899-1967)
1951-1952
Bodvar Jon Skuli Bodvarson (1911-1972)
1952-1955
Benjamin Foreman (c1898-1981)
1955-1956
Glenn Homer Turner (1912-1987)
1956-1957
Frederick C. Mongeon
1957-1958
Peter Jacob Olchowecki (1911-2011)
1958-1961
Harold Edgar Woods
1961-1962
Irma Sirett
1962-1965
Joseph Grodecki (1925-2011)
1965-1966
E. Dunsmore
1966-1969
Cecil McCullough
1969-1973
L. Boychuk
Among the early teachers at Arden School were Hugh McCames [McCamis?] (Spring 1887 - pt Fall 1888), Joseph Little (pt Fall 1888), Georgie Shoebotham (Spring-Fall 1889), James T. Gamey (Spring 1890 - Fall 1891), W. L. Forbes (Spring-Fall 1892), John McClung (Spring 1893 - Spring 1895), R. A. Bruce (Fall 1895 - pt Fall 1896), Theophilus Grant Finn (pt Fall 1896 - Fall 1897), and G. W. Arnott (Spring-Fall 1898).
Period
Teachers
1900
Kate Crawford (junior grades, Fall), Alfred Dickson (senior grades), Joseph William Gordon (junior grades, Spring)
1901
Kate Crawford (junior grades), Joseph William Gordon (senior grades)
1902
records not available
1903
records not available
1904
records not available
1905
J. Scott Cameron (senior grades), Janet McClung (junior grades)
1906
J. Scott Cameron (senior grades, Spring), Janet McClung (junior grades, Spring), M. Edith Munroe (junior grades, Fall), George Henry Ruttan (senior grades, Fall)
1907
James H. Marsh (senior grades, Fall), M. Edith Munroe (junior grades, Spring), George Henry Ruttan (senior grades, Spring)
1908
George Wesley Bartlett (senior grades, Fall), M. Olive Burns (junior grades, Fall), James H. Marsh (senior grades, Spring), M. Edith Munroe (junior grades, Spring)
1909
George Wesley Bartlett (senior grades), Ethel Buchanan (? grades, Fall), M. Olive Burns (junior grades, Spring; ? grades, Fall)
1910
George Wesley Bartlett (senior grades), Ethel Buchanan, M. Olive Burns
1911
George Wesley Bartlett (senior grades), Ethel Buchanan (Spring), M. Olive Burns (Spring), Mabel Butler (Fall), Violet C. Collins (Fall)
1912
(January-June only): George Wesley Bartlett (senior grades), Mabel Butler, Violet C. Collins
1912-1913
Violet C. Collins, Harry Percival McPhail (senior grades), K. Robertson (Fall), Lula Wilde (Spring)
1913-1914
Ruth Thorpe Boughton (daughter of Maurice Edmund Boughton), Frederick Harold “Fred” Burkholder (senior grade), Violet C. Collins (Fall), Cassie M. Wilson (Spring)
1914-1915
Ruth Thorpe Boughton, Frederick Harold “Fred” Burkholder, Cassie M. Wilson
1915-1916
Frederick Harold “Fred” Burkholder (senior grades, Fall), Shirley Ferg (Spring), Victor Harvey Hugo (senior grades, Spring), Maude Macgregor, Blanche Wathen (Fall, married Fred Burkholder)
1916-1917
Shirley Ferg, Victor Harvey Hugo (senior grades), Florence E. Trumpour
Later teachers included Jean Isabel Wellwood, Karl Eric Chambers (late 1920s), John Maxwell “Jack” McGilvray (1930-1934), Margaret Ellen Eames (early 1940s), Mrs. H. Thompson (1953), Alma Elaine [Eileen] Newton Carnochan (1956-1957), and Ruth Alma Watson Emisch (1967-1973).
Arden School (circa 1908)
Source: Rob McInnes, MN0633.
The Arden School consisted of the three building to the right of the church at left (circa 1930) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 32.
Arden School commemorative monument (July 2012)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.27739, W99.26704
denoted by symbol on the map above
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
“Arden, Man”, Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, July 1918, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
“Langruth news,” Portage la Prairie Leader, 3 September 1953, page 11.
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.
Over the Rainbow: Memories of a Country School Teacher by Ruth Emisch, 1993.
“Keep in touch” by Keith Boughton, Retired Teachers Association of Manitoba, Winter 2008, www.ardenmb.ca/history/schoolcairn.htm.
We thank Tracey Winthrop-Meyers, Rob McInnes, Edith Burnside, and Bob McCamis for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 14 July 2024
Historic Sites of Manitoba
This is a collection of historic sites in Manitoba compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. The information is offered for historical interest only.
Browse lists of:
Museums/Archives | Buildings | Monuments | Cemeteries | Locations | OtherInclusion in this collection does not confer special status or protection. Official heritage designation may only come from municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Some sites are on private property and permission to visit must be secured from the owner.
Site information is provided by the Manitoba Historical Society as a free public service only for non-commercial purposes.
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the MHS Webmaster at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.Help us keep history alive!
