The Bower School District was organized formally in February 1917 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at 35-20-14W in what is now the Municipality of McCreary. It became part of the McCreary Municipal School District in 1936, then reformed as a separate district in July 1950. The school closed in 1964 and its area became part of the McCreary Consolidated School District and later the Turtle River School Division. As of the 1980s, the former school building was apparently still standing at the site, being used as a private residence. Only its concrete foundation remained at the time of a 2014 site visit.
Among the teachers of Bower School were Winnifred Ledoux, Helen Banta, Clara Fletcher, Grace Hey, Lorna White, Freida Einarson, Miss Chase, Ross Greenman, Katherine Wilkes, Madge Nicholson, Muriel Smith, Marguerite Tod, M. Aleta Guest, Violet Edwards, Lloyd Cook, A. G. McLellan, Mr. Fenditis, Miss Poole, Miss Jackson, J. Dickie, Mary Wood, Miss Warkentine, Miss A. Toews, Mr. Jawaraski, Mr. Stevens, Bernice Claire Stewart (Fall 1956 - Spring 1957), Ruth E. Hoehn (Fall 1957 - Spring 1958), Dennis Vernon Holmlund (Fall 1958 - Spring 1959), James Bowman Norrie (Fall 1959 - Spring 1960), Shirley Louise Rist (Fall 1960 - Spring 1961), Wilma Eileen Channon (Fall 1961), Doris Ida Hanibal (Spring 1962 - Spring 1963), and Emily Gefreiter (Fall 1963 - Spring 1964).
Bower School (no date) by C. K. Rogers
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 55.
The concrete foundation from the former Bower School building (May 2014)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.76036, W99.31942
denoted by symbol on the map above
McCreary West topographic map, 62J/14 West, Edition 1, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].
McCreary: Milestones and Memories by McCreary History Book Committee, 1987, page 156.
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.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Bower School District No. 1860 - Daily Registers, GR6770, Archives of Manitoba.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 11 February 2024
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