Historic Sites of Manitoba: Huntly School No. 477 (RM of Prairie Lakes)

In some sources spelled “Huntley School,” the Huntly School District was established formally in August 1886 and a school building was later erected in the southwest corner of 11-4-15 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Rural Municipality of Prairie Lakes. In 1907, a new building was erected on the north side of the road opposite the original site. It was replaced with another structure in 1958 and the former building was sold and dismantled. The school closed in June 1968 and the building was moved to Killarney for use as a church. A monument and replica commemorates it at the former site.

The teachers of Huntly School were Kate McPhail (1887, aunt of Ivan Schultz), William Coutts (1888-1892, brother-in-law of James Farquharson), Edward N. Coutts (1893), James A. Coutts (1893), David Lang (1893), Albert Buttress (1898), Warren Lang, George A. Platt, Warren Lang, Allan Lang, Albert Buttress (1895-1901), Alex Moir, Jennie Drummond, Jean McConecky, R. R. Lutit, Thomas McKay, R. L. Bell, Ezra Bell, John F. Rose, M. A. Leslie, G. Shea, Alice Cluff, Margaret Cumming, Bessie Cumming (1912-1913), May Cumming (1913-1920), Mary Rankin (1920-1921), Wiliena Buckland (1921), Myrtle Sparrow (1922), Mary Thomson (1923), Hazel Henwood (1924), Myrtle Dixon (1925-1927), Dorothy Gardiner (1927-1928), Florence Wanless (1928-1931), Edith Aitken (1931-1936), Elizabeth McDonald (1936-1939), Olive Smith (1939-1941), Edith Shepherd (1941-1943), Elsie Baxton (1943-1944), Helen Trinder (1944-1945), Joyce Willett (1945-1946), Lena Dubyts (1946-1951), Esther Bolton (1951), Elaine Slimon (1951-1952), Jean Phillips (1953-1954), Joan Hawly (1954-1955), Ardeth Swanton (1955-1957), Flora Thomson (1957-1958), Donna Nicol (1958-1959), Hilda Potier (1959-1960), Linda Scott (1960-1961), Flora Thomson (1961-1964), Margaret Melville (1964-1965), Joyce Williamson (1965-1967), and Karen Frohwerk (1967-1968).

Huntly School (no date) by W. J. Parr Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 68. Huntly School commemorative monument (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.28168, W99.40292 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

I Remember: Lights Along the Valley and Huntly by Caroline Cumming, 1970.

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.

The Path of the Pioneers: Belmont and District, 1889-1989 by Belmont History Committee, 1989. [Legislative Library of Manitoba, F5649.B44 Pat]

We thank Daniel Shanks for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 25 July 2022

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