Historic Sites of Manitoba: Brown Lea School No. 474 (Municipality of Boissevain-Morton)

The Brown Lea School District was established formally in August 1886 and the first classes were held in 1887. The school was situated in the northwest quarter of 20-4-19 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton. The original building was replaced by a wood frame structure built in 1902 by contractor A. King. The school closed in January 1967 but, as of 2010, the vacant building remains at the site. A stone monument dedicated on 7 July 1968 stands nearby.

Among the teachers of Brown Lea School were Miss Lucy Cockburn (1887), Miss Eliza (1888), Miss Ross (1898), Miss Edith Young (1902), and Mrs. Eva Gouldie.

Brown Lea School

Brown Lea School (no date) by W. J. Parr
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 66.

The former Brown Lea School building

The former Brown Lea School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 785.

The former Brown Lea School building

The former Brown Lea School building (August 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Brown Lea School commemorative monument

Brown Lea School commemorative monument (August 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.32538, W99.99184
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.

Beckoning Hills Revisited: Ours is a Goodly Heritage, Morton-Boissevain, 1881-1981 by Boissevain History Committee, c1981, page 184.

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

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 20 September 2020

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