Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gordon School No. 213 (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

The Gordon School District was established formally in 1884 and a schoolhouse was constructed in the southwest quarter of 5-14-16 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of North Cypress-Langford, on land sold for $1 by a Mr. Sirett. It was named for British soldier Charles George Gordon (1833-1885), who was killed in Africa around the time the school was established. The building burned to the ground in February 1913. Students attended classes in a renovated barn until a new building on a larger playground was built two years later. The school closed in 1966 and its catchment area was divided between Neepawa School District No. 126 or Brookdale Consolidated School District No. 1299. The building was sold and dismantled. The old school bell was put on display in a local museum and a monument was erected at the site.

Among the teachers at Gordon School were Miss MacLean (1885), Mr. Code, Wes Helpenny, Miss Heaslip, Mr. McChecherney, Jean Urquhart, Jessie Elwood, William Hamilton, George H. Blackwell, A. Blackwell, Jacob Arbuckle, Eleanor Claire, Lizzie Burns, Miss Ladler (1913), and Miss Murdock.

Gordon School (no date) by W. C. Hartley Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 73. Gordon School commemorative monument beside the former shelterbelt for the school (August 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.15219, W99.61451 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gordon United Church (Municipality of North Cypress-Langford)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Gordon Union School No. 393 (Municipality of Norfolk Treherne)

Sources:

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.

Quest in Roots by Brookdale Historical Society, 1987. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.B81Que]

The Beautiful Plains Story: 1983-2008 by Neepawa and Area History Committee, 2008, page 156.

This page was prepared by Allan Drysdale and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 31 January 2021

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