Historic Sites of Manitoba: Armour School No. 159 (RM of Morris)

The Armour School District was established formally in September 1884 and initially a one-room wood frame school building operated on the bank of the Red River on River Lot 358, in the Rural Municipality of Morris. In 1905, it was moved to the northwest corner of 8-5-2E, on the west side of St. Mary’s Road. A new building was erected in 1954 and the old one was sold, moved away for use as a granary, and later torn down. The school closed in 1960 and henceforth students in this area went to schools in Morris. The former school building was sold and moved to Aubigny where it was used as a store and later a house. On 9 September 2015, a commemorative sign was unveiled at the site.

Among the teachers who worked at Armour School were Miss Mabel Hoard (1898), Miss Maude Moore (1900), Miss F. Campbell (1906), Miss Olive Kastner (1908), Miss Lucy Swain (1910), Miss Daisy Churchill, Miss Violet Nichols (1923), Miss Edith Covernton (1924), Miss Hattie Churchill, Miss Effie Dowler (1929), Miss Grace Stevenson (1931), Andrew Swain (1933), Miss M. Downie (1935), Ethel Margaret Reid (1937, wife of Robert Forrest), Miss Madeline Covernton (1941), Miss Kay Knowles (1942), Miss M. Stocks (1944), Miss I. Helvason (1947), Miss Pat Johnson (1949), Miss R. Johnson (1950), Sophie Cutforth, Edna Brown (1953-1955), Evelyn Brown (1956-1957), Rita Schmidt Covernton (1957-1959), and Ina Mazinke Swain (1959-1960).

The first Armour School building (no date) Source: Morris Museum The second Armour School building (no date) Source: Morris Museum Armour School commemorative sign (September 2015) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.38302, W97.29805 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Cummin’s Rural Directory Map for Manitoba published by the Cummins Map Company, 404 Chambers of Commerce, Winnipeg, 1923. [Copies held by Edward M. Ledohowski and Gordon Goldsborough]

Morris West topographic map, 62H/6 West, Edition 2 ASE, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].

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.

Furrows in the Valley: A History of the Municipality and its People compiled by the Morris History Book Committee, edited by Lenore Eidse, 1980.

Aerial photograph A11638-2 [1948], Manitoba Air Photo Library.

“Official opening of the new Armour School, October 24th 1952,” Morris Museum.

We thank Mariette Allen for assistance in locating an aerial photograph of Armour School.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 25 June 2020

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