Historic Sites of Manitoba: Beaver Creek School No. 103 (Municipality of North Norfolk)

A monument in the Municipality of North Norfolk, unveiled in July 1991, commemorates the former agricultural community of Beaver. Established in the 1870s, Beaver which eventually comprised several residences, two churches, and Beaver Creek School No. 103. The school operated at three nearby sites: the first on the north bank of Beaver Creek from 1883 to 1896, the second about a half-mile north from 1896 to 1902, and the third at SE26-12-10W from 1902 to 1958 when it closed. Wesley Methodist Church operated from 1896 to 1913, and Hampton Presbyterian Church (later a United Church) from 1896 to 1966.

Among the teachers who worked at Beaver Creek School through the years were Farquhar McRae (1883), W. G. Wilson, T. H. Lamont, James A. Newmans, Jessie Dickie, Annabel Publow, Jemima E. Tait, Maggie McLeod, Naomi M. Moore, Kate Moore, Louise Ferguson, Winnifred Palmer, Mabel Munroe, Hazel Armstrong, Miss Gayhand, Margaret M. Hannah, Charlotte P. McCallum, Leah Armstrong, V. J. Pallister, Primrose Haigh, Jeanne Duguid, Louise Harkness, F. W. Cox, Lillian B. Lamont, Adam Smith, Margaret McCharles, Isabel Jacklin, Ellen M. Pegler, Gladys Hamilton, Ruth Oberg, Olga Boddy, Walter E. McCan, B. M. Harkness, S. A. Amyott, E. B. Wood, Dorothy Nevill, F. Corinne Wilson, Irene M. Dagg, Annie Price, Charlotte M. Findlay, Mary Eleanor Rothwell, Jessie L. Ross, Edith Good, Julia Askin, Kathleen Wilmot, Olive Smith, Edith Young, Eva Christianson, Gwen Lewis, Pearl Shamray, Eleanor Morton, Audrey Stevenson, Agnes Tarr, Vivian Telford, Dale Millar, Margaret Collier, Marlene Pelk, and Shirley Clyde (1958).

Beaver Creek School (June 1962) Source: John H. Warkentin, John Warkentin Fonds, 2009-029/003, ASC16257, York University Beaver Creek School commemorative monument (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.02006, W98.72035 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.

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, pages 863-865.

We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 February 2021

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