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The Simpson School District was formally established in April 1891, and a two-storey, four-classroom brick school was built later that year, and opened in early 1892. A bell in its tower was donated by Premier Thomas Greenway (now atop a cairn commemorating local schools). Two-teacher instruction began in 1897 and was expanded to a staff of three in 1902. In its early years, the high school component was often referred to as Baldur Intermediate School, as to distinguish itself from the Baldur High School in Ontario, though this convention was later discargded in favour of the Baldur High School name as well.
In 1905, a replacement structure was built upon the designs by Brandon architect W. A. Elliott. Around 1914, the district changed its name and adopted the community name of Baldur, which was already used by the Baldur School District No. 588 at Hnausa, north of Gimli. Upon prompting from Department of Education in February 1915, the Hnausa school location change its name, and the like-named district confusion abated.
In January 1960, the school was consolidated with several smaller schools from the surrounding area, including Rosehill School No. 90, Wolseley School No. 305, Hola School No. 889, Greenway School No. 947, Huff School No. 948, Hamlin School No. 1790, and Antonius School No. 2127. A new Baldur Elementary School was constructed in 1961 and elementary grades were transferred there. Other rural schools would join during the 1960s, including Connaught School No. 1630. Known as Baldur Collegiate, the facility then was exclusively use for high school grades until the summer 1976. That same final year, a monument was erected. In 1977, the building and land was sold to the RM of Argyle for $1000. The structure was later demolished.
Period
Principal
1899-1903
David J. Hartley
1903-1905
James Humphrey Plewes (1873-1963)
1905-1906
?
1906-1907
Mansell Allan Davis (1884-1972)
1907-1909
Angus McNevin (1862-1923)
1909-1913
William Alexander Shannon (1883-?)
1913-1918
Percy Vernon Bond (1895-1961)
1918-1921
Robert William Dunlop (1876-?)
1921-1922
Charles William Spencer
1922-1937
Richard A. Fines (1871-1966)
1937-1941
Robert William Lightly (1909-1985)
1941
Edith Arvilla May Elson Lightly (1914-2006)
1941-1946
Norman Oliver Finnigan (1908-1988)
1946-1949
Arthur Milford Preston (1908-1981)
1949-1950
Stanley Robert Kitchen (1915-1988)
1950-1951
Lloyd Sulymka (1925-2003)
1951-1955
Cornelius Bergen
1955-1956
Jessie Bethune Embree
1956-1960
John Handford Hjalmarson (1930-1989)
1960-1961
Harold Harvey Ching Stewart
Period
Principal
1961-1963
Harold Harvey Ching Stewart
1963-1966
Raymond Alfred Le Neal
1966-1967
Daniel Cyriel Joseph Warnez
1967-1969
Grace Olive Beauchamp
1969-1973
M. Hawash
1973-1975
?
1975-1976
Victor Thiessen
Period
Vice-Principal
1951-1955
Stella Howelko Dunn (1916-2000)
1955-1960
?
1960-1961
Edward Peter Falk
Period
Teachers
1911-1912
John B. Stewart (grades ?), ?
1912-1913
John B. Stewart (grades ?), ?
1913-1914
John B. Stewart (grades ?), ?
1914-1915
John B. Stewart (grades ?), ?
1915-1916
John B. Stewart (grades ?), ?
1916-1917
Percy Vernon Bond (grades 9-11), Florence F. Fowler (grades 1-3), John B. Stewart (grades 4-7)
1917-1918
Percy Vernon Bond (grades 9-11), Florence F. Fowler (grade 1), Muriel A. Rankin (grades 2-4), Alison M. Wilson (grades 5-8)
1918-1919
Closed due to Spanish Influenza (October-November & January): Robert William Dunlop (grades 9-11, January & February-June), Florence F. Fowler (grades 1-2, August-October, December-January, & February-June), Emma C. Hammond (grades 3-4, January & February-June), J. McCormick (grades 9-11, August-October), Muriel A. Rankin (grades 3-4, August-October & December), Alison M. Wilson (grades 5-8; & grades 9-11, December)
1919-1920
Robert William Dunlop (grades 9-11), Dora H. Fowler (grades 1-2, 1919; grades 1-3, 1920), Adalbjorg Johnson (grades 3-5), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1920-1921
Robert William Dunlop (grades 9-11), Dora H. Fowler (grades 1-2), Fanny B. H. Stirling (grades 3-5), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8),
1921-1922
Florence F. Fowler (grades 4-5), Janet Marie Lawson (grades 1-3), Charles William Spencer (grades 9-11), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1922-1923
Richard A. Fines (grades 9-11), M. A. Hutchinson (grades 4-5), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1923-1924
Richard A. Fines (grades 9-11), M. A. Hutchinson (grades 4-5), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-2), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1924-1925
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-11), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1925-1926
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), M. H. Bone (grades 6-8), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-11), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3)
1926-1927
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-11), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1927-1928
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), W. Kristjanson (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 7-8)
1928-1929
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-5), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Hazel Mathieson (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1929-1930
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Amy Smith (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1930-1931
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Lillian Agnes Fisher (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 7-8)
1931-1932
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Lillian Agnes Fisher (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 7-8)
1932-1933
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-5), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Lillian Agnes Fisher (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1933-1934
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-5), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Lillian Agnes Fisher (grades 11-12), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1934-1935
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-5), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Lillian Agnes Fisher (grades 11-12), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3, January-June), E. M. McClellan (grades 1-3, August-November), Lilly J. Syndal (grades 1-3, December), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1935-1936
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Lillian Agnes Fisher (grade 11), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 7-8)
1936-1937
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 3-5), Richard A. Fines (grades 9-10), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3), Kathleen Maude Walley (grade 11), Louise Mary Wilson (grades 6-8)
1937-1938
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-5), Edith Arvilla May Elson (grades 11-12), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3), Walter Chester Hawn (grades 6-8), Robert William Lightly (grades 9-10)
1938-1939
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-5), Edith Arvilla May Elson (grades 11-12), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3), Walter Chester Hawn (grades 6-8), Robert William Lightly (grades 9-10)
1939-1940
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Edith Arvilla May Elson (grades 9-10), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3), Walter Chester Hawn (grades 7-8), Robert William Lightly (grade 11), Stella Petryk (grade 12)
1940-1941
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Edith Arvilla May Elson (grades 9-10 & grade 11, March-June), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3), Walter Chester Hawn (grades 7-8), Robert William Lightly (grade 11, August-March), Stella Petryk (grade 12)
1941-1942
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Eldon Murrill Elliott (grades 9-10), Edith Arvilla May Elson (grade 11), Norman Oliver Finnigan (grade 12), Annie Margaret Gillies (grades 1-3, 1941; grades 7-8, 1942), Walter Chester Hawn (grades 7-8, 1941), ? (grades 1-3, 1942)
1942-1943
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Miss E. Irene Jessie Dickson (grades 9-10, April-June), Bibiane Finnigan (grades 9-10 substitute, March), Norman Oliver Finnigan (grade 12), Annie Margaret Gillies (grade 11), Clara Ruth Green (grades 9-10, September-February), Nancy Isabelle McKay (grades 7-8), Jean Irene Richmond (grades 1-3)
1943-1944
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Vera Marion Clark (grades 1-3), Norman Oliver Finnigan (grade 12), Annie Margaret Gillies (grade 11), Nancy Isabelle McKay (grades 7-8), ? (grades 9-10)
1944-1945
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 4-6), Vera Marion Clark (grades 1-3), Miss E. Irene Jessie Dickson (grade 11), Norman Oliver Finnigan (grade 12), Nancy Isabelle McKay (grades 7-8), Willard Ervin Rife (grades 9-10)
1945-1946
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Norman Oliver Finnigan (grade 12), Dorothy Ada Peirson (grade 11), Letitia Milburn Richardson (grades 1-3), Ronald John Riddell (grades 9-10), Shirley Gertrude Willoughby (grades 4-6)
1946-1947
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 6-8), Courtney Rutherford Emerson (grade 11, 1946), Kathleen Violet Harkins (grades 9-10), Arthur Milford Preston (grade 12), Annie Eleanor Reid (grade 11, 1947), Letitia Milburn Richardson (grades 1-3), Shirley Gertrude Willoughby (grades 6-8)
1947-1948
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Doris Goplin (grades 9-10), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), Arthur Milford Preston (grade 12), Annie Eleanor Reid (grade 11)
1948-1949
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), ? (grades 9-10)
1949-1950
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), Stanley Robert Kitchen (grades 11-12), Winona Parker Ross (grades 9-10)
1950-1951
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Archibald Gordon Haas (grades 9-10), Margaret Hay (grades 4-6), Lloyd Sulymka (grades 11-12)
1951-1952
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Cornelius Bergen (grades 11-12), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), Stella Howelko (grades 9-10)
1952-1953
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Cornelius Bergen (grades 10-11), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), Stella Howelko (grades 9 & 12)
1953-1954
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Cornelius Bergen (grades 11-12), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), Stella Howelko (grades 9-10)
1954-1955
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Cornelius Bergen (grades 11-12), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6), Stella Howelko (grades 9-10)
1955-1956
Irma Atkins (grades 4-6, December), Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 7-8), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Jessie Bethune Embree (grades 11-12), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-6, Septembero-November & April-June), Doris Mary Stone (grades 4-6, January-March)
1956-1957
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 6-8), Grace Olive Beauchamp (grades 9-10, February-June), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-2), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 3-5), John Handford Hjalmarson (grades 11-12), Lillian Parobee (grades 9-10, September-January), T. Rogan (grades 9-10, August)
1957-1958
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 6-8), Madge Evangeline Holder (grades 9-10), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-3), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 3-5), John Handford Hjalmarson (grades 11-12)
1958-1959
Mildred Alice Bateman (grades 6-8), Madge Evangeline Holder (grades 9-10), Dorothy Helierine Dearsley (grades 1-2), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 3-5), John Handford Hjalmarson (grades 11-12)
1959-1960
Grace Olive Beauchamp (grade 11), Lorelie Gudnason (grades 9-10), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grades 4-5), John Handford Hjalmarson (grade 12), Madge Evangeline Holder (grades 6-8), Merle Noreen Morrison (grades 1-3), Helen Margaret Smith (grades 1-8, January-June), Doris Mary Stone (grades 1-3)
1960-1961
Grace Olive Beauchamp (grade 11), Edward Peter Falk (grade 11), Hansena Gudny Gunnlaugson (grade 5), Madge Evangeline Holder (grades 7-8), Rina Scott (grade 3, classes at the Community Hall), Helen Margaret Smith (grades 4 & 6), Elizabeth May Leverington Stewart (grade 2, classes at the Community Hall), Harold Harvey Ching Stewart (grade 12), Doris Mary Stone (grade 1, classes at the Community Hall)
1961-1962
Elementary grades, see Baldur Elementary School
Among the other teachers of Simpson School / Baldur School was Annie F. Playfair (?-?).
School Year
Teachers
1961-1962
Alexander Domytrak (grades 10-11), Iris Margaret McKerlie (grade 9), Harold Harvey Ching Stewart (grade 12)
1962-1963
Ida Christine Mills (grade 10), Harold Harvey Ching Stewart (grade 9), Earle Joseph Warnica (grades 11-12)
1963-1964
Grace Olive Beauchamp (grade 11), Raymond Alfred Le Neal (grade 12), ? (grades 9-10)
1964-1965
Grace Olive Beauchamp (grade 11), Edward John Doell (grade 10), Donald Wayne Gruener (grade 9), Raymond Alfred Le Neal (grade 12)
1965-1966
Grace Olive Beauchamp (grade 11), Raymond Alfred Le Neal (grade 9), ? (grade 10 & 12)
1966-1967
Sharon Lee Bannerman (grade 10), Grace Olive Beauchamp (grade 11), Gerald Julian Diswinka (grade 12), Daniel Cyriel Joseph Warnez (grade 9)
1967-1968
?
1968-1969
?
1969-1970
?
1970-1971
?
1971-1972
?
1972-1973
?
1973-1974
?
1974-1975
?
1975-1976
?
Baldur School (no date) by G. H. Robertson
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 105.
Baldur School (August 1967)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey, Baldur.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.38552, W99.24736
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Baldur District Schools (RM of Argyle)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Baldur Elementary School (RM of Argyle)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Baldur School No. 588 / Hnausa School No. 588 (Municipality of Bifrost-Riverton)
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
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.
Manitoba Local Government Boundaries Commission, Schools in Manitoba - Volume 2, Baldur Collegiate - File 68B, March 1968, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Baldur School District No. 667 - Daily Registers, GR13491, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Tiger Hills School Division No. 29 (Baldur High School / Baldur Collegiate) - Daily Registers, GR13491, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
“Baldur, Man”, Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association map, 1916, Archives of Manitoba.
“Baldur,” Manitoba Daily Free Press, 23 March 1898, page 5.
“Communication,” Baldur Gazette, 24 September 1903, page 1.
“The new school,” Baldur Gazette, 23 February 1905, page 1.
“Address and presentation,” Baldur Gazette, 16 August 1906, page 1.
“Teachers at the convention,” Brandon Sun, 15 October 1920, page 6.
“Collegiate Clippings,” Baldur Gazette, 6 March 1941, page 8.
“Baldur School opens August 29th,” Baldur Gazette, 18 August 1949, page 8.
“Two new teachers on Baldur School staff,” Baldur Gazette, 1 September 1949, page 8.
“1074 graduate university this year [Harold Harvey Stewart],” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 May 1958, page 18.
“Stewart - Leverington,” Dauphin Herald and Press, 10 September 1959, page 5.
“Fall school term opens Tuseday [sic], August 30,,” Baldur Gazette, 25 August 1960, page 1.
“Warnez - Morrison [Daniel Cyriel Joseph Warnez],” Winnipeg Free Press, 23 July 1966, page 15.
“50 years ago [Stewart - Leverington],” Baldur Gazette, 15 September 2009, page 6.
“New residents in Baldur,” Baldur Gazette, 31 August 1961, page 4.
“Principal appointed,” Glenboro Gazette, 28 May 1975, page 1.
“Tiger Hills S.D. Meeting,” Belmont News, 23 September 1976, page 2.
“Division happenings,” Baldur Gazette, 19 January 1977, page 4.
“Tiger hills School Division minutes,” Glenboro Gazette, 16 February 1977, page 4.
“Murray Smith appointed Principal at Baldur High,” Baldur Gazette, 18 May 1983, page 22.
We thank Dean Yaremchuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer, Ken Storie and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 September 2021
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