The Edenthal School District was established in May 1893 and a one-room schoolhouse operated on two acres of land at SE7-1-1E in the Rural Municipality of Rhineland. Until about 1920, the school operated alongside a church-run private school. Two years later, the original wood frame building was replaced with a new schoolhouse, funded via a $3,000 debenture in April 1922. Another debenture for $1,000 was issued in April 1928 to fund construction of a teacherage. The district was operated by local trustees except from 1918-1923 when affairs of the school were handled by Official Trusteee John Franklin Greenway, after which it was returned to locally-elected trustees.
Among the teachers of Edenthal School were Bernhard A. Friesen (Fall 1893 - Spring 1894), Peter Toews (Fall 1894- Spring 1895), Johann Loewen (Fall 1895 - Spring 1896), G. K. Hamm (Fall 1896 - Spring 1898), H. J. Wiens (Fall 1898 - Spring 1899), Heinrich “Henry” Hamm (Fall 1899 - Spring 1901), Olga Wiebe (Fall 1901), records not available (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Carl Ewert (Spring 1905), Katharine [Katharin?] “Tina” Sawatzki (Fall 1905 - Spring 1907), Gertrude Wiens (Fall 1907 - Spring 1908), did not operate? / no government grant paid for teacher (Fall 1908 - Spring 1909), Catherine E. Wiebe (Fall 1909 - Spring 1910), Sadie E. Loewen (Fall 1910 & January-April 1911), Lizzie Wiebe (May-June 1911), John Jacob Funk (Fall 1911 - Spring 1912), Jacob C. Klassen (Fall 1912 - Spring 1914), Helen L. Warkentin (Fall 1914 - Spring 1915), Peter F. Winters (Fall 1915 - Fall 1916, Fall 1917 - Spring 1918, October 1918 - June 1919), Jacob S. Schellenberg (Spring 1917), Anna Heinrichs (September 1918), school closed due to influenza outbreak (5 November - 13 December 1818), Emma R. Ewert (Fall 1919 - Spring 1920), Marie I. Wiebe (Fall 1920 - Spring 1921), M. Hamm (Fall 1921), John Mueller (Spring 1922 - Spring 1924, pt Fall 1924), school closed due to mumps outbreak (30 January - mid February 1922), Abraham L. Toews (pt Fall 1924 - Spring 1927), Jacob Derk Siemens (Fall 1927 - Spring 1933), Peter Bernhard Krahn (Fall 1933 - Spring 1940), John Irving Warkentin (Fall 1940 - Spring 1943), Alvina F. Friesen (September-December 1943), Helen Peters (January-April 1944), Jacob Jacob Peters (April-June 1945), John Peter Dyck (Fall 1945 - Spring 1949), Helen Friesen (Fall 1949 - Spring 1952).
As the size of farms in the area increased, families got smaller. Enrollment dropped to 11 students by May 1952 when the district was dissolved and its catchment area amalgamated into the Edenburg School District No. 330 and henceforth all students attended the Edenburg facility. The Edenthal teacherage was moved to the Edenburg site, while the former school building was moved to the grounds of Gretna School for use as a sports building. No vestiges of the school remain at the original site.
Edenthal School (no date) by G. G. Neufeld
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 120.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.01610, W97.43775
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #21 School District of Edenthal, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #16 School District of Edenthal, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Orders-In-Council (EC 0003B), Order-in-Council #29992, GR1530, Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Edenthal School District No. 756 - Daily Registers, GR2656, Archives of Manitoba.
We thank Marlene Plett for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Al Schmidt (Altona and District Heritage Research Centre), Gordon Goldsborough, and Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 8 July 2025
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