The Cowan River School District was organized formally in August 1915 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SE16-35-22W in the Rural Municipality of Mountain. In 1967, the district was dissolved and its catchment area became part of the Swan Valley School Division. The former school building was later moved to a nearby site (N52.00051, W100.53950) and used as a granary. Trees planted by students remain along with a monument dedicated on 5 August 2000 to students, teachers, and resident of the district.
The teachers of Cowan River School were Victor E. Mironko (1916), Nicholas Halabisky (1917), Tania Feiglman (1918), Annie Simmons (1919), S. A. Knowles (1920), A. D. Jarema (1921), Gordon A. Sinclair (1922), Gordon E. Malkovich (1922), Andrew Danyleyko (1923), Joseph W. Butcher (1923-1924), Anna Hrushowy (1924-1928), R. H. Creighton (1928), L. S. Dumaresg (1929), Adam Ernest Presiloski (1930-1933), Olga Hrushowy (1934), Elizabeth Koshey (1935), Dmetro Wesly Basarab (1936-1938), Elmer P. Braun (1939), Daniel George Negrych (1940-1941), Frank Sobischanski (1942), Mark Huley (1943-1945), Nicholas Kohuch (1946), Mary Wasyliuk (1947), Mary Wanyca (1948), Donald R. Ellis (1949), Michael Shawaga (1951), Francis Paulette Tolpa (1952), Doreen Hogg (1953), Joan V. Turner (1954), Florence Boychuk (1955), Rosemary D. Mytryshyn (1956-1957), Gene Happychuk (1958), Mary D. Kowaluk (1959), Marry Doreen Chorneyko (1960), Elsie Mavis Olinyk (1961-1962), Harry J. Stratychuk (1963-1965), and Linda Freeze (1966-1967).
Cowan River School at right and teacherage at left (no date) by J. S. Peach
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 39.
Former Cowan River School building (June 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Interior of the former Cowan River School building (June 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Cowan River School commemorative monument (June 2015)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N51.99869, W100.53726
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Cowan School No. 1132 (RM of Mountain)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Cowan Ridge School No. 2305 (RM of Mountain)
School District Formation Files [Cowan River School District No. 1808], GR1688, E0027, 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.
Boots, Buggies & Buses: Swan Valley Schools in Quest of Education, Swan Valley School Division No. 35, circa 1998.
Cowan Then and Now: 1898-2010 by Cowan History Book Committee, 2010, pages 309-313.
We thank Orest Kolisnyk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 30 April 2021
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