Historic Sites of Manitoba: Beatrice School No. 164 (RM of Springfield)

The Beatrice School District was organized formally in September 1882 and a log school building operated on the open prairie at 1-10-6 east of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. In 1897, a new building was erected on SE18-10-7E, on land donated by Margaret Irwin Carruthers. It was later moved to a better location on the same section, along Highway 12. It was replaced by a third school in 1950, equipped with a full basement, kitchen, and activity room. The building was situated about one quarter mile south of the second building. After the school closed in 1967, remaining students went to Anola Consolidated School No. 2429. The building was sold and converted into a private residence.

Teachers who taught at Beatrice School included Miss Craig (1900), Miss Scoular (1901), Miss Campbell (1902), Miss Hall (1903), Miss A. P. Trowsdale (1904), Mr. Mellor (1905), Miss McTavish (1906), Miss Pope (1907-1910), Miss Matheson (1910), Miss Keiler (1911-1913), Miss Bowman (1913), Miss Irwin (1914-1916), Miss Brown (1916), Miss Jackson (1917), Miss C. McIvor (1918), Miss Joseph (1919), Miss Harris (1920), Miss L. K. McCusher (1920), Miss J. Chambers (1921), Miss J. Irwin (1922), Miss Alice Moorhouse (1922-1925, 1928-1931), Miss Violet Gillespie (1925-1927), Miss Lillian Shafer (1928), Miss Millidge (1931), Miss Lowler (1932), H. McCallum (1933), Miss Florence Potter (1933-1938), Miss Balderstone (1941), Miss Amy Murray (1942), Miss Guness (1943), Mrs. P. Kruchak (1944-1946), Mrs. Stuart McIvor (1947-1949, 1958-1960), Miss Joyce Stroud (1950), Miss Emily Minne Moroz (1951-1954), Simon “Cy” Nimchuk (1955-1956), Miss Ruth Pearl Loughry (1957), Lawrence W. Strick (1958), Florence Ellen McIvor (1959-1960), Mrs. Melvin Koskie (1960-1961), Mrs. William Briarcliffe (1961-1963), Miss Chongva (1964-1965), and Muriel J. Gamsby (1966-1967).

Beatrice School (c1880s) Source: Archives of Manitoba, Manitoba school records collection, GR14995, G 11120. Beatrice School (no date) by R. Goulet Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 57. Beatrice School commemorative monument (March 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Beatrice School commemorative monument (March 2022) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.83338, W96.63764 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Springfield: 1st Rural Municipality in Manitoba, 1873-1973 by Dugald Women’s Institute, 1974.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Beatrice School District No. 164 Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.

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

We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 29 May 2022

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