Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Cooks Creek School District was established in December 1872 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at NW31-11-6E in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. One of the early buildings was designed by Joseph Greenfield. The district was dissolved in January 1965 and its catchment area became part of the Oakbank Consolidated School District. The school closed in the summer of 1965 and students were bused to Oakbank Consolidated School. The former schoolhouse was later renovated into a private residence and removed from the site sometime after 1986.
Period
Principal
1956-1957
Mr. P. Mikolayenko
1957-1959
none
1959
Pauline C. Kruchak
1960
Victoria Patricia Catton
1960-1961
Lawrence Oliver Overby (1938-2021)
1961-1963
Robert Barry Findlater (1941-1966)
1963-1964
Peter Paul Smolarski
1964-1965
Joseph Tony Zatlyny
Among the early teachers of Cooks Creek School were Thomas B. Scott (1883-1884), Alice Christie (Spring 1885 - Spring 1886), W. J. Bodkin (Fall 1886), William Edward Bedome (Spring 1887 - Fall 1890), John Silas Poole (Spring 1891 - Fall 1892), George W. A. Harcus (Spring 1893 - Fall 1894), J. A. Macdonald (Spring 1895), Roscoe L. Conklin (Fall 1895), Rilf? Conklin (Spring-Fall 1896), James T. Houston (Spring 1897 - Fall 1898), Harry Murdoff (Spring 1899), Joseph Marshall (Fall 1899 - Fall 1900), John A. Williams (Spring-Fall 1901), records unavailable (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Nora Malcolm (Spring 1905), Jean Muriel Lister (Fall 1905 - Spring 1906), Belle M. Smith (Fall 1906 - Fall 1907, pt Fall 1908), Frances M. Coward (Spring 1908), William D. Bruce (pt Fall 1908 - Spring 1909), Kenneth K. McKenzie (Fall 1909), Clara Hill (Spring 1910), Mary D. Stafford (Fall 1910 - Spring 1912), Ethel Wilson (Fall 1912 - Spring 1914), Goldie MacCullough (Fall 1914 - Spring 1915), W. St. G. Hollies (Fall 1915 - Spring 1916), A. Gregory (Fall 1916), Edna M. Cochrane (Spring 1917), Stella C. Lovett (Fall 1917), Irene V. Bustard (Spring 1918), Isabel Millidge (Fall 1918 - Spring 1920), Hazel Munroe (Fall 1920), Joseph Albert Mayers (Fall 1945), Mary Ruta (Fall 1950), Peter M. Onysko (?-?), David Stewart Small (?-?), and Walter Charles Malenchak (?-?).
Period
Teachers
1955-1956
Irene Dzinkowski (grades 1-8)
1956-1957
Mr. P. Mikolayenko (grades 6-9), Della Irene Zerbin (grades 1-6)
1957-1958
Margaret Wreggit (grades 1-8)
1958-1959
Leona Jane Mitchell (grades 1-8)
1959-1960
Victoria Patricia Catton (grades 5-8, January-June), Dorothy Pauline Coates (grades 1-4), Pauline C. Kruchak (grades 5-8, August-December)
1960-1961
Lawrence Oliver Overby (graddes 5-8), Joyce [Mary/Marie] Elizabeth Nieckarz (grades 1-4)
1961-1962
Joyce [Mary/Marie] Elizabeth Nieckarz (grades 1-4), Robert Barry Findlater (grades 5-8)
1962-1963
Robert Barry Findlater (grades 5-8), Marjorie Evelyn Smith (grades 1-4)
1963-1964
Marilyn Faye Chubey (grades 1-4, September-December), Emily Kirner (grades 1-4, September & January-June), Peter Paul Smolarski (grades 5-8)
1964-1965
Margaret Joan Lewthwaite Eidem (grades 1-4), Joseph Tony Zatlyny (grades 5-8)
Cooks Creek School (no date) by R. Goulet
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 7.
The former Cooks Creek School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1285.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.97368, W96.77277
denoted by symbol on the map above
Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Dugald topographic map, 62H/15, Edition 2, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].
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.
We thank Robert Marusyk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 6 September 2025
Historic Sites of Manitoba
This is a collection of historic sites in Manitoba compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. The information is offered for historical interest only.
Browse lists of:
Museums/Archives | Buildings | Monuments | Cemeteries | Locations | OtherInclusion in this collection does not confer special status or protection. Official heritage designation may only come from municipal, provincial, or federal governments. Some sites are on private property and permission to visit must be secured from the owner.
Site information is provided by the Manitoba Historical Society as a free public service only for non-commercial purposes.
Send corrections and additions to this page
to the MHS Webmaster at webmaster@mhs.mb.ca.Help us keep history alive!
