Historic Sites of Manitoba: Carmichael School No. 1959 (RM of Hanover)

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

The Carmichael School District was organized formally in April 1919 and its affairs were initially overseen by a trustee, John F. Greenway, Assistant Deputy Minister in the provincial Department of Education. It was not until 1926 that a local school board was formed. In the meantime, a school building was erected in the spring of 1921 at NE7-7-4E (about N49.55748, W97.02578) in the Rural Municipality of Hanover and classes started that fall. In 2013, a commemorative sign was erected at the site by the EastMenn Historical Society.

In 1948, after a change in demographics of the district that made it desirable to locate the school elsewhere, the original building was sold for $500, and a new building was erected one mile east of the earlier site. A teacherage was deemed to be in sufficiently good condition that it could be moved from the old site to the new one. Initially a one-classroom building, a second classroom was added in 1955 due to growing student enrollment. In 1968, it became part of the Hanover Unitary School Division. After the school closed, the building was renovated into a private residence. A commemorative sign was erected at the site in 2013 by the EastMenn Historical Society.

Principals

Period

Principal

1956

Isaac A. Enns

1956-1958

Henry Reimer Penner

1958-1959

Rudy Klassen

1959-1961

Rudolph Reimer

1961-1963

Helen Shirley Plett

1963-1964

John Sawatzky

1964-1965

Peter Kroeker

1965-1967

Stanley P. Plett

1967-1968

Abram Wiebe

Teachers

School Year

Teachers

1955-1956

Isaac A. Enns (grades 6-8, 1956), Anna Janzen (grades 1-8, 1955; grades 1-5, 1956)

1956-1957

Anna Janzen (grades 1-5), Henry Reimer Penner (grades 6-10)

1957-1958

Henry Reimer Penner (grades 5-9), Margaret Zacharias (grades 1-5)

1958-1959

Rudy Klassen (grades 5-9), Margaret Zacharias (grades 1-4)

1959-1960

Elaine Marie Reimer (grades 1-4), Rudolph Reimer (grades 5-9)

1960-1961

Elaine Marie Reimer (grades 1-4), Rudolph Reimer (grades 5-9)

1961-1962

Irene Kathy Peters (grades 1-4), Helen Shirley Plett (grades 5-8)

1962-1963

Irene Kathy Peters (grades 1-4), Helen Shirley Plett (grades 5-7)

1963-1964

Irene Kathy Peters (grades 1-4), John Sawatzky (grades 5-8)

1964-1965

Martha Kroeker (grades 1-4), Peter Kroeker (grades 5-8)

1965-1966

Stanley P. Plett (grades 5-8), Delores Mary Wiebe (grades 1-4)

1966-1967

Stanley P. Plett (grades 4-8), Delores Mary Wiebe (grades 1-3)

1967-1968

Frieda Martens (grades 1-3), Abram Wiebe (grades 3-6)

Among the other teachers of Carmichael School were Dietrich Penner (1920-1921), Anna L. Friesen (1921-1922), Abr. P. Toews (1922-1923), Sylvia G. Olson (1923-1924), Harry H. Rempel (1924-1925), J. B. Warkentin (1925-1926), Margaret F. Friesen (1926-1927), Jacob J. Koop (1927-1929), Jacob P. Rempel (1929-1930), Cor. D. Toews (1930-1937) Peter H. Dirks (1937-1939), Isaac Isaac Fast (1939-1940), Eleanore G. Neufeld (1941), Alexander John Fast (1941-1943), John Wiebe Driedger (1943-1946), Anne Toews (1946-1947), Peter Under Dueck (1947-1948), Franz J. Neufeld (1948-1950), Frank Isaac (1950), Justina Buhler (1951), Arden Reimer (1951-1953), and Irwin H. Penner (1953-1955).

Photos & Coordinates

The first Carmichael School building

The first Carmichael School building (no date)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographshs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 67.

The Carmichael School building and teacherage

The Carmichael School building and teacherage (no date)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 67.

The second Carmichael School building

The second Carmichael School building (no date)
Source: Schools - Our Heritage by John K. Schellenberg, 1985.

The former Carmichael School building

The former Carmichael School building (April 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Carmichael School commemorative sign

Carmichael School commemorative sign (November 2020)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.55494, W97.00342
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.

Schools - Our Heritage: From 46 School Districts to Hanover Unitary School Division (1878-1968) by John K. Schellenberg, The Board of The Hanover School Division No. 15, May 1985, ISBN 0-919673-93-7.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Carmichael School District #1959 - Daily Registers, GR2656, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Carmichael School District #1959 - Cash Books, GR2656, Archives of Manitoba.

We thank Glen Klassen and Ernest Braun (EastMenn Historical Society) and Rose Kuzina for providing information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 22 November 2020

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