Historic Sites of Manitoba: Centennial School / Edmund Partridge School (1874 Main Street, Winnipeg)

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

Built in 1913 at a cost of $58,000, on a design by local architect Edgar Prain, the two-storey brick school on Main Street at Royal Avenue was opened officially on 5 December 1913. It eventually became part of the Seven Oaks School Division.

Centennial School was later joined at the site by Edmund Patridge School commemorating municipal official Edmund Partridge, and the two buildings were linked together. The cornerstone for Edmund Partridge School was laid by Edmund’s daughter Eveline Farlinger, also a the West Kildonan School Board trustee, on 24 November 1955. The school was officially opened 11 April 1956, though already in operation. At the ceremony was Minister of Education Wallace Conrad Miller, Chairman of the municipality and Public Utilities Board R. L. McDonald, and Winnipeg School Board trustee Anne Ethel“Nan” Murphy.

The facility offered a English-Hebrew bilingual program (1982-c1988) and was also a High School (1921-1954) prior to the construction of the West Kildonan Collegiate in 1954. Both school buildings served as wings of the West Kildonan Collegiate from 1997 to 2008. The 26-room Centennial building was demolished sometime between 2008 and 2010.

In 2008, the school was renamed Edmund Partridge Community School and become a middle years (grades 6-8) facility. Bricks from the former Centennial building were used to construct a new courtyard on the south side of the building, on Kingsbury Avenue. It was intended to be the new front entrance to the school but those plans never came to fruition, and the entrance remains on Main Street.

Principals (Centennial School)

Period	Principal
1913-1921	John William Lawbe Doubleday (1867-1938)
1921-1931	George James Elliott (1869-1948)
1931-1935	Clifford James Udell (1898-?)
1935-1940	Eldon Franklin Simms (1907-1964)
1940-1948	Albert Lee Herron (1895-1970)
1949-1953	James Kenneth Mackay (c1912-1968)
1953-1954	John Leamen (1908-1967)
1954-1960	Verne Henry Essery (1887-1973)
1960-1967	Edward “Ted” Kiernan (?-2001)
1967-1973	Ruby Valera Arndt Joyce (1916-2021)
1973-1974	?
1974-1975	Jacob Cornelius “Jack” Winters (1933-2021)
1975-1979	?
1979-1980	Moshe Selchen
1980-1984	?
1984-1990	Arthur Donald “Art” Sutton (1937-2020)
1990-?	?
?-1997	Pat Stefanchuk
1997-2008	See West Kildonan Collegiate

Principals (Edmund Partridge School)

Period	Principal
1955-1959	Agnes Isabelle Arnold (1908-1996)
1959-1964	Henry Royal Dwyer (1905-1996)
1965-1966	John Frederick Archibald “Jack” Partridge (1912-1966)
1966-1970	A. J. Wieler
1970-1975	Vladimir Solman
1975-1979	?
1979-1985	Stanley A. Didkowski
1985-?	?
?-1988	Rosalene Saleskie
1988-?	Ken Humeny
?-1996	?
1996-1997	Val McCorkel
1997-2008	See West Kildonan Collegiate
2008-2012	Peter Obendoerfer
2012-2020	Jane Romio
2020-?	Mia Guenther

Teachers (Centennial School)

Among the teachers of Centennial School were Eveline Partridge (1920-?), Arthur H. Lawson, James George “Jim” Dark, Vyrna A. Havard (1951-1953), Beverly Bashford (1953-1954), and Lawrence Abel Rathwell.

Teachers (Edmund Partridge School)

School Year	Teachers
1955-1956	Winifred Bawden, Hilda M. Campbell, Thomas Chesley, Myrtle M. Craig, Margaret B. Duggan, David Duerksen, Vyrna Alice Havard Heggie, Anne Keith, Edward Kowalchuk, Olga A. Lund, Charlotte D. MacQuarrie, Alice L. McCuaig, Lloyd T. McCullough, Henry H. Petkau, Rodnie Valley Peppler, Albert Rothenberger, Rudolph A. Schultz, Marilyn J. Townsend, Mary E. Watson, James W. Young

Among the other teachers of Edmund Partridge School were Merrill Dalmer Groff (1956-?) and Alfred Pelissier (1960-1961).

Photos & Coordinates

The Centennial School building prior to an addition (no date) Source: A Historical Study of Public Education in West Kildonan to 1959 by Raymond Ronald Bailey, 1966, Collection of Mrs. J. W. Baldock. Edmund Partridge Community School (July 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Edmund Partridge Community School on the former site of West Kildonan Collegiate (July 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.94012, W97.11545 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Events in Manitoba History: Battle of Seven Oaks (19 June 1816)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Seven Oaks Monument (Main Street, Winnipeg)

Memorable Manitobans: Robert Semple (1776-1816)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: West Kildonan Collegiate (101 Ridgecrest Avenue, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Seven Oaks Middle School (800 Salter Street, Winnipeg)

Sources:

“Corner stone of the Centennial School laid,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 July 1913, page 4.

“Opening Centennial School,” Winnipeg Tribune, 8 December 1913, page 6.

“West Kildonan loses no time in answering school fire ‘alarm’,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 August 1955, page 3.

“New W. K. school opens Wednesday,” Winnipeg Free Press, 12 April 1956, page 2.

“Gift money stolen,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 June 1959, page 1.

“Principals shifted in close vote,” Winnipeg Free Press, 4 December 1964, page 24.

A Historical Study of Public Education in West Kildonan to 1959 by Raymond Ronald Bailey, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, 1966.

“Happy 75th,” Winnipeg Free Press Weekly Northeast Section, 7 August 1988, page 2.

“Principals appointed,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 December 1988, page 49.

Henderson’s Winnipeg Directories, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.

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

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.

We thank Heather Thatcher, Rose Kuzina, and Peter Obendoerfer for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 15 January 2023

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