Historic Sites of Manitoba: Justice Consolidated School No. 696 (Justice, RM of Elton)

Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Justice Consolidated School District, centred in the village of Justice in the Rural Municipality of Elton, became one of the first participants in the consolidation movement of the early 20th century. It brought students from several surrounding rural schools, including Aikenside School No. 157, Nelles School No. 696, and Young School No. 352, to a new building (erected in 1912 on a design by Winnipeg architect W. W. Blair) to one central location. Through the years, as other rural schools closed, it drew students from Campbell School No. 186, Elton School No. 131, Gourlay School No. 695, Matheson School No. 1062, and Orange Hall School No. 1069. Justice School closed in June 1967 and its area became part of the Elton Municipal School District No. 2360.

Principals

Period	Principal
1923-1924	Henrietta Beveridge Herkes (1899-?)
1924-1926	Mary Marguerite Rodger “Marge” Andrews (1901-1955)
1926-1927	Weston Sweet (1899-1994)
1927-1929	Myrtle Christina Evans Witherspoon (1906-1998)
1929-1930	Willa Griggs
1930-1931	Margaret E. Wheaton
1931-1933	Marie Evans
1933-1934	Helen McLennan
1934-1936	James Edwin Scarrow (1902-1982)
1936-1937	Monica Anderson
1937-1938	Charlotte Finlay
1938-1939	John Archibald “Archie” Carmichael (1916-2001)
1939-1940	Erick Bjarnson
1940-1941	Hugh Arthur Johnson (1910-1967)
1941-1942	Doreen Handel
1942-1943	Ann Belcher
1943-1945	Jonathan Hughes Arnett (1879-1953)
1945-1946	Robert B. Connor
1946-1948	Dorothy E. Frost
1948-1949	Marion Terry
1949-1951	Alex Robson
1951-1952	Mrs. Dorothy Cox
1952-1957	Margaret Amelia Creighton (1911-1979)
1957-1958	Stanley A. Livingston
1958-1960	Allan H. Badgley
1960-1961	Margaret Amelia Creighton (1911-1979)

Teachers

Among the other teachers of Justice School were Agnes Davidson (1913), Evelyn Pentland (1913-1914), Annie Andrews (1913-1915), Nellie Holden (1914-1916), B. McNevin (1915-1916), J. Duilan (1916-1917), Annie Falconer (1916-1919), Alice Bisset (1917-1918), Gladys Christie (1918-1919), Jean Brown (1919-1920), Gladys Pearson (1919-1920), W. I. Stewart (1919-1921), D. McDonald (1919-1920), Mildred Thornton (1920-1923), Olive Falconer (1921-1922), W. Logan (1922-1923), Marjory Davis (1922-1923), R. Slauson (1922-1923), A. Emerson (1923-1924), Margaret Elliott (1923-1925, 1926-1927), Marjorie Hogarth (1925-1926), Dianne Lucow (1927-1928), Ruby Magee (1928-1929), Kay Kellar (1929-1930), Helen McLennan (1930-1933), Doris Moore (1933-1934), Margaret Sutherland (1934-1935), Ruby Black (1934-1935), Edna Elder (1935-1937), Helen Brownell (1937-1940), Verna Hughes (1940-1941), Gwen Waring (1941-1942), Jean Justice (1942-1943), Phyllis Hill (1943-1945), Merle Westbrook (1945-1946), Donna Douglas (1946-1948), Eileen Wray (1948-1949), Muriel Hunter (1949-1951), Sam Sigardson (1951-1952), Florence Chambers (1951-1953), Dorothy Cox (1959-1960), Elaine Kolke (1953-1956), Hazel Adams (1956-1957), Janie Crossen (1957-1958), Marion Badgley (1958-1959), Elaine Bollman (1958-1961), A. W. Parils (1960-1961), Adelaide Feil (1961-1963), Jean Witter (1962-1967), Lorna Richardson (1963-1964), Glenda Holmes (1964-1965), and Carol Armstrong (1965-1967).

Photos & Coordinates

The original Justice School (circa 1911) Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspector Photos GR2664, C65. Justice School (no date) by A. J. Hatcher Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 110. A homecoming celebration was held when the school closed (July 1967) Source: Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom] The former Justice School building (June 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former Justice School building and bell (June 2020) Source: Rose Kuzina The former Justice School building (June 2020) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.99748, W99.79699 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Tenders, Manitoba Free Press, 5 August 1911, page 3.

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

Homesteaders and Homemakers: A History of Elton Municipality in its First Century by Elton Historical Committee, 1973. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.E48 Hom]

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.

Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.

We thank Nathan Kramer and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 18 March 2023

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