Bloomsbury School District was formally organized in July 1886 and a school house was constructed near this site, in the Rural Municipality of Elton, in 1888. It was replaced by a new building in 1949 and the original structure was moved to Brandon where it was turned into a private residence. The new school closed in 1957 and the building was moved to Rivers where it became a residence. The district was dissolved in 1967. A monument was dedicated by former students and teachers at a ceremony on 10 July 1999.
The teachers of Bloomsbury School included Mabel Nichol (1908), Flossie Kilfoyle (1910), Miss McKee (1912), Ella Stewart (1913), Miss Corbett (1915), Nettie Grant (1917), Miss Garbutt (1920), Miss G. Bell (1920-1921), Miss Leith (1921), Miss Hutchison (1922), Mattie Grant (1922), Miss Loosemore (1923), Gladys Coristine (1924), Miss A. Chevins (1925), Miss D. North (1927), Miss A. Turnbull (1928), Miss M. Matthews (1929), Miss M. Patmore (1929), Hattie Scarlet (1930), Edna Robinson (1935), Beatrice Bassn (1937), Marion Gaudin (1937), Mabel Hickson (1938), Beatrice Cork (1943), Monica Powell (1944), Grace Baissie (1946), Leone Boyd (1949), Jean Switzer (1950), Wilma Eisler (1952), Alice Henderson (1953), and Ruth Rome (1955-1957).
The original Bloomsbury School at left, built in 1888, with the second Bloomsbury School at right, built in 1949 (no date)
Source: Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]
Bloomsbury School commemorative monument (June 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90140, W100.00304
denoted by symbol on the map above
“Teachers at the convention,” Brandon Sun, 15 October 1920, page 6.
Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]
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.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 25 January 2021
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