Historic Sites of Manitoba: Ferriss School No. 1442 (Municipality of North Norfolk)

Formally established in October 1907, the Ferriss School District was named in commemoration of local settler Fred Ferriss who helped to plan and build the school. Built at a cost of $1,000, the structure was situated on the southeast corner of 24-10-9 west of the Principal Meridian in the Municipality of North Norfolk. The school burned to the ground on 24 January 1954, only its piano and desks being saved. Students were temporarily housed in a nearby residence and at Elmwood School until another school was built. This new school was used until 1964 when it closed and students transferred to Rossendale Consolidated School No. 2419. As of the early 1990s, the former school building remained at the site and was used as a residence. A monument commemorating the school was dedicated at a ceremony on 12 July 1998.

Among the teachers who worked at Ferriss School were Douglas Parker (c1948) and Miss Maloney (1954).

Ferriss School (1948) by Douglas Parker Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Districts - Ferriss. The former Ferriss School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 907. The former Ferriss School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 900. Ferriss School commemorative monument (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.84243, W98.55719 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

“Ferris School burns to ground $8,000 damage,” Manitoba Leader [Portage la Prairie], 28 January 1954.

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.

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

Through Fields and Dreams: A History of the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk and MacGregor by The History Book Committee of the North Norfolk-MacGregor Archives, 1998, page 912.

We thank Donna Stout for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 February 2021

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