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 (no date) Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographshs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 67. 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 (no date) Source: Schools - Our Heritage by John K. Schellenberg, 1985. The former Carmichael School building (April 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough 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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