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Historic Sites of Manitoba: East St. Paul School No. 541 / Birds Hill School No. 541 (Birds Hill, RM of East St. Paul)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

Known as the East St. Paul School District No. 541 when it was established in June 1888, in December 1927 it was renamed the Birds Hill School District No. 541. In 1914, a two-storey brick schoolhouse was constructed on Lot 95 on the Birds Hill Road in the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1914 by Deputy Minister of Education Robert Fletcher before a large crowd of local citizens and school board officials. The new two-room facility was build by contractor Walter Owens was built with expansion in mind, with two additional classrooms quickly approved by local voters in two months of the schools opening. This expansion cost a further $3,000. The district became part of the East St. Paul Municipal School District No. 2323 in January 1954, and later became part of the River East School Division.

As of 1984, the school had three classrooms with four portable classrooms on site, two of which were used as a gymnasium and library, respectively. The building was put up for sale and demolished in March 1987. The site is now a shopping mall parking lot. The school’s name stone and cornerstone are displayed on the present school at Birds Hill.

Principals

Period

Principal

1912-1914

Anna Margaret Ruth Whitely Garven (1888-1960)

1914-1920

Nellie Helen Agar Haight (1875-?)

1920-1923

V. W. Mulvin

1923-1924

G. H. Smithson

1924-1933

Henry Gledhill Heasman (1870-1955)

1933-1936

Gordon Henry Clifford Maxwell (1900-1970)

1936-1941

Francis Osborne “Frank” “Oz” Norman (1913-2004)

1941-1947

John Lyzun (1913-1984)

1947-1949

Wilhelmine Isabelle McGregor

1949-1954

Franz Julius Solmundson (1907-1989)

1954-1955

Douglas Gordon Pomeroy (1911-1968)

1955-1963

?

1963-1966

Louise Margaret Roy O’Grady

Teachers

Period

Teachers

1912-1913

Miss I. E. Johnson (grades 1-4, at residence of N. J. McGregor), Ruth M. Whitely (grades 5-8)

1913-1914

Miss I. E. Johnson (grades 1-4, at residence of N. J. McGregor), Ruth M. Whitely (grades 5-8)

1914-1915

Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 5-8), Miss I. E. Johnson (grades 1-4), Ruth M. Whitely (grades 5-8, 1914)

1915-1916

Miss R. I.[J?] Cross (grades 1-4), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 5-8)

1916-1917

Ethel Maud Bennett (grades 1-4, 1917), Miss R. I.[J?] Cross (grades 1-4, 1916), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 5-8)

1917-1918

Ethel Maud Bennett (grades 1-3, 1917), Elsie H. Gibson (grades 1-3, 1918), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 4-8)

1918-1919

Elsie H. Gibson (grades 1-3, 1918), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 4-8), Annie M. Unger (grades 1-3, 1919)

1919-1920

Elsie H. Gibson (grades 1-4, 1919), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 5-8), Helen L.? Harper (grades 1-4, 1920)

1920-1921

Ida E. Norman (grades 1-3), V. M. Mulvin (grades 7-10), Mary Catherine Unger (grades 4-6)

1921-1922

Ida E. Norman (grades 1-3), V. M. Mulvin (grades 7-10), Mary Catherine Unger (grades 4-6)

1922-1923

Ida E. Norman (grades 1-2), V. M. Mulvin (grades 7-10), Mary Catherine Unger (grades 3-6)

1923-1924

Miss H. MacDonald (grades 1-2, 1924), Mrs. J. McLeod (grades 1-2, 1923), G. H. Smithson (grades 7-10), Mary Catherine Unger (grades 4-6)

1924-1925

Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 5-9), Miss H. MacDonald (grades 1-2), Mary Catherine Unger (grades 3-5)

1925-1926

Delta Selina Gorham (grades 1-2), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 6-9), Mary Catherine Unger (grades 3-5)

1926-1927

Lillian M. Edwards (grades 3-5), Walter Gorham (grades 3-5, 1927 substitute), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 6-9), Margaret Peturson (grades 1-2)

1927-1928

Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 3-5), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 6-10), Winona Howell (grades 1-2)

1928-1929

Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 3-5), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 6-9), Winona Howell (grades 1-2)

1929-1930

Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 3-5), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 6-9), Winona Howell (grades 1-2)

1930-1931

Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone (grades 1-2), Ethel Maud Bennett (grades 3-5, 1930 substitute), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 3-5), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 6-9)

1931-1932

Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone (grades 1-3), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 4-6), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 7-9)

1932-1933

Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone (grades 1-3), Nellie Helen Agar Haight (grades 4-6), Henry Gledhill Heasman (grades 7-9)

1933-1934

Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone (grades 1-3), Florence McLachlan (grades 4-6), Gordon Henry Maxwell (grades 7-10)

1934-1935

Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone (grades 1-3), Florence McLachlan (grades 4-6), Gordon Henry Maxwell (grades 7-10)

1935-1936

Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone (grades 1-3), Ethel Mary Barager (grades 1-3, 1936), Gordon Henry Maxwell (grades 7-10), Emily Phyllis Smith (grades 4-6)

1936-1937

Ethel Mary Barager (grades 1-3), Gordon Henry Maxwell (grades 8-10, 1936), Francis Osborne “Frank” “Oz” Norman (grades 8-10), Emily Phyllis Smith (grades 4-7)

1937-1938

Ethel Mary Barager (grades 1-3), Francis Osborne “Frank” “Oz” Norman (grades 8-10), Emily Phyllis Smith (grades 4-7)

1938-1939

Ethel Mary Barager (grades 1-3), Francis Osborne “Frank” “Oz” Norman (grades 8-10), Emily Phyllis Smith (grades 4-7)

1939-1940

Ethel Mary Barager (grades 1-4), Francis Osborne “Frank” “Oz” Norman (grades 9-11), Emily Phyllis Smith (grades 5-8)

1940-1941

Ethel Mary Barager (grades 1-4), Francis Osborne “Frank” “Oz” Norman (grades 9-11), Emily Ann Priest (grades 5-8)

1941-1942

John Lyzun (grades 9-11), Emily Ann Priest (grades 5-8), Stephanie Prucyk (grades 1-4)

1942-1943

John Lyzun (grades 9-11), Emily Ann Priest (grades 4-8), Stephanie Prucyk (grades 1-3)

1943-1944

John Lyzun (grades 9-11), Emily Ann Priest (grades 5-8), Stephanie Prucyk (grades 1-4)

1944-1945

John Lyzun (grades 9-11), I. Marguerite Miller (grades 4-8), Stephanie Prucyk (grades 1-3)

1945-1946

Mary Madeline Darling (grades 1-3), John Lyzun (grades 7-11), Stephanie Prucyk (grades 4-6)

1946-1947

Elizabeth Muriel Curta (grades 5-8), Evelyn Eve Dutchak (grades 1-4), John Lyzun (grades 9-11)

1947-1948

Mollie Dobchuk (grades 1-3, 1947), Ruth May Lewarne (grades 4-6), Wilhelmine Isabelle McGregor (grades 7-9), Mary Niven (grades 1-3, 1948)

1948-1949

Ruth May Lewarne (grades 4-6), Wilhelmine Isabelle McGregor (grades 7-9), Mary Niven (grades 1-3)

1949-1950

Mona Katherine Johnson (grades 4-6), Wilhelmine Isabelle McGregor (grades 7-9), Joanne Elizabeth Manson (grades 1-3), Franz Julius Solmundson (grades 9-11)

1950-1951

Mrs. M. Irene Kazina (grades 1-2), Lucille A. Lambert (grades 3-5, 1951), Katiebelle McKnight (grades 3-5, 1950), Ethel May Matthews (grades 6-8, 1950), S. Allan Murray (grades 6-8, 1951), Franz Julius Solmundson (grades 9-11)

1951-1952

Mrs. M. Irene Kazina (grades 1-2), Peter Kruszelnicki (grades 6-8), Jacqueline Naven (grades 3-5, 1951), Ida Penner (grades 3-5, 1952), Franz Julius Solmundson (grades 9-11)

1952-1953

Mrs. M. Irene Kazina (grades 1-2), Ida Penner (grades 3-5), Eileen Joyce Reeves (grades 6-8), Franz Julius Solmundson (grades 9-11)

1953-1954

Mrs. M. Irene Kazina (grades 1-2), Ida Penner (grades 3-5), Eileen Joyce Reeves (grades 6-8), Franz Julius Solmundson (grades 9-11)

1954-1955

Marguerite Dora Clark (grades 3-4), Mrs. M. Irene Kazina (grades 1-2), Neil McTavish (grades 5-6), Douglas Gordon Pomeroy (grades 7-9)

1955-1956

?

1956-1957

?

1957-1958

?

1958-1959

?

1959-1960

?

1960-1961

?

1961-1962

?

1962-1963

?

1963-1964

Kathryn Pronyk (grade 2), Louise Margaret Roy (grade 1)

1964-1965

Louise Margaret Roy O’Grady (grade 1), Jennie Marion Hayka (grade 3), Kathryn Pronyk (grade 2)

1965-1966

Louise Margaret Roy O’Grady (grade 1), Jennie Marion Hayka (grade 3), Kathryn Pronyk (grade 2), Sharon Jean Wieler (grade 4)

1966-1967

Edith Elizabeth Bowman (grade 4, 1967), Miss A. Cushman (grade 4, 1966), Joan Elizabeth Gratton (grade 4, 1967), Jennie Marion Hayka (grade 3), Donna Diane Hewko (grade 2)

Among the teachers who worked at Birds Hill School through the years were Neil McMillan (1888), E. A. W. Gill (1889), W. Van Blaricom (1890), A. J. Gordon (1891), R. H. Wilson (1891), Miss Davis (1892), Miss B. Poole (1892-1896), John S. Poole (1897), Belle C. McGregor (1897), E. F. Haffner (1898), Miss K. E. Haffner (1899-1900), Miss E. M. Christie (1900), Walter Gorham (1900-1904), Miss J. M. Springstein (1905), Harry G. Francis (Jan-Jun 1906), Sidney E. Clark (Aug 1906 - Jun 1907), Lena M. Davey (Aug 1907 - Jun 1908), W. G. McIntyre (Aug 1908 - Jun 1909), Miss E. Ruby Armstrong (Aug 1909 - Jun 1910), Margaret J. MacWilliam (Aug-Oct 1910), Mrs. Lillian E. Scribner (Nov 1910 - Jun 1911), and Charles S. White (Aug 1911 - Jun 1912).

Photos & Maps

Birds Hill School

Birds Hill School (no date) by J. E. S. Dunlop
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 87.

Birds Hills School

Name stone for Birds Hills School, on display at the present school (October 2014)
Source: Nathan Kramer

Birds Hills School

Date stone for Birds Hills School, on display at the present school (October 2014)
Source: Nathan Kramer

Site Location (lat/long): N49.97492, W97.00716
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Birds Hill School (3950 Raleigh Street, RM of East St. Paul)

Sources:

“The Indian famine fund,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 March 1897, page 4.

Winnipeg East topographic map, 62H/14 East, Edition 1, 1952, 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.

“Dance and social given by members of Bird’s Hill School District,” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 December 1934, page 6.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Birds Hill School District No. 541 Daily Registers, GR8245, Archives of Manitoba.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

Obituary [Dorothy Elizabeth Balderstone Langton (1907-2006)], Winnipeg Free Press, 9 February 2006, page 32.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 29 June 2019

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