Historic Sites of Manitoba: Arizona School No. 478 (Municipality of North Norfolk)

Named for the American state of Arizona, the school district in the Municipality of North Norfolk was formally established in September 1886 but its first school building was not completed until two years later, on the southwest quarter of 16-10-12, with Miss Sadie Wright of Carberry as the first teacher. The original log building was replaced by a red brick structure in 1921. It was replaced with the building from Linwood School in 1963. With school consolidation in the mid-1960s, Arizona School closed in January 1968 and its students were bused to schools at Austin or MacGregor. The former school building was renovated as a private residence.

A marker, dedicated at a ceremony on 2 August 1998 to the pioneers, teachers and students of the Arizona district, sits beside the Arizona Community Hall, built in 1901. The building for Arizona (Methodist) United Church was moved to the Manitoba Agricultural Museum in 1974.

Among the teachers who worked at Arizona School were Sarah Wright (1888), Miss Eliott, M. B. O’Dell (1889), Miss McLellan (1891), Caroline Sparling, Maggie Vanalstein (1893), Anna Stuart (1894), Clara M. Buist (1895), Margaret E. Macdonald (1896), Maude Mawhinney (1896), Emma M. Carr (1897), Fanny B. Thompson (1898), Gertrude MacMillan (1899-1900), Frances C. Lander (1899), Clara Mary Bemister (1900-1901), E. S. Smith (1901), Maude Napper (1901), Agnes Ainslee (1901), Ida Watts (1902), Miss S. Augusta (1903), Mr. I. C. O. Sullivan (1904), Miss L. L. Ferguson (1904), Clara Langton (1904-1905), Bessie M. Ross (1906), Audrey Young (1906), Elizabeth Little (1907), Clara McMaster (1908), Jane R. Latimer (1908-1909), Pearl Winteringham (1909), Florence Keeping (1909), Rosa E. Black (1910), Edna Younghusband (1910), Mona I. Morrow (1911-1912), Laura A. Kellet (1913-1914), Ida McLean (1914-1915), Vera May Babb (1916), Kathleen S. Burke (1917), Myrtle May Wark (1917), Miss V. Jonatanson (1917), Olive P. Swanton (1918), Miss A. B. Campbell (1918), Marjorie E. Snyder (1919), Laura M. Blanks (1920), Annie R. Mitchell (1920), Margaret Bradley (1921-1922), C. Arminah Powell (1922-1923), Clara Beswitherick (1923-1924), Vera Robinson Pratt (1924-1925), Florence D. MacKay (1925-1926), Lydia Peters (1927), Marjory E. Dupuis (1927-1928), Tranna Calvert Sidney (1928-1930), Ailsa Margaret Little (1930-1931), Jean Lane (1931-1933), Verna Margaret Lundy (1933-1935), Jean Olive Goulding (1935-1938), Irene Blanche Towle (1938-1940), Mae Amelia Carritt (1940-1941), Ruby Louise Steen (1941-1942), Lorna May Tapp (1942-1944), Isobel Alanna Mayers (1944-1945), Sophie Violet Dawshka (1945-1946), Kenneth M. White (1946-1947), Mrs. Bertha Evelyn Gibson (1947), Edith Victoria Peck (1947-1948), Norine Wilma Jones (1948-1949), Florence Lillian Sims (1949-1950), Edna Irene Wardell (1950-1951), Mrs. Eva M. Moffatt (1951-1952), Edna Irene Wardell (1952-1953), Mary Wiebe (1953-1955), Mrs. Marguerite A. Willis (1955-1958), Mrs. Eva Moffatt (1958-1961), Shirley Moore (1961-1963), Eileen J. Mote (1963), Mrs. R. D. Peck (1964-1965), and Mrs. Carol Kilfoyle (1966-1967).

The former Linwood / Arizona School (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 882. The former Linwood / Arizona School (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 884. Arizona School commemorative monument (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.82833, W99.02999 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

A Rear View Mirror: A History of the Austin and Surrounding Districts by Anne M. Collier, Altona: Friesen Printing, 1967.

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.

Arizona, 1881-1982 [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.A77 Ari]

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

Through Fields and Dreams: A History of the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk and MacGregor by The History Book Committee of the North Norfolk-MacGregor Archives, 1998, page 694.

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 1 August 2020

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