Historic Sites of Manitoba: Marquette School / Meadowlea School No. 120 (RM of Woodlands)

Known as Marquette School District when it was organized formally in February 1881, it was renamed Meadowlea School in 1945, to avoid confusion with Prairie School in the nearby village of Marquette, in the Rural Municipality of Woodlands. Around 1962, the former school building was sold to the Mennonite Brethren Church and moved to the village of Woodlands where it was used as a church until 1967. It sat vacant until it was turned into a craft shop around 1977. The school site is now used as a municipal gravel yard. A commemorative monument was erected at the site in 2012.

Among the teachers of Meadowlea School were R. Mills Simpson (1877), Andrew McLelland (1877), W. J. Bodkin (1883-1886), Mrs. McLean (1886), Mr. S. Wilkes (1887), John Strachan (1890), C. E. Elliot (1892), J. R. McRae (1892), George Thompson (1893), James Hulme (1894), William Burnett (1897), D. Fred McNeill (1905-1916), Miss Johnson (1916-1917), Miss Scanlon (1917), Miss Sigurdson (1918-1919), Miss Segal (1919-1921), Miss Jeeves (1921-1923), Miss Winnifred Woodhall (1923), Mrs. J. E. Porteous (1924), Miss Grace Thompson (1925), Miss Isabell Howden (1926), Miss Bessie Robinson (1927), Mr. W. N. Stewart (1927-1936), Miss Jean Gunn (1937-1938), William Logan (1939-1940), Arnold M. Leech (1940-1944), Annie M. Jones (1944), Marion E. Pye (1944-1945), Mrs. D. Bagley (1945-1946), Mrs. J. Y. Pascoe (1946-1949), Donald McDonald (1950-1951), Mrs. M. McMahon (1952-1956), Mr. J. Gorchynski (1956-1960), Mrs. C. Anderson (1961-1963), Mrs. C. Dickenson (1963), and Mr. Watson (1964).

The Marquette School building with teacherage at right (circa 1920s) by M. Hall-Jones Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 39. The Marquette School teacherage (circa 1920s) by M. Hall-Jones Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 39. The former Meadowlea School building (circa 1990) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1506. Meadowlea School commemorative monument (September 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.12317, W97.73267 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Prairie School No. 121 (RM of Woodlands)

Sources:

“The Indian famine fund,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 March 1897, page 4.

Footsteps Through the Years: Ossowa, Reaburn, Marquette, Meadow Lea, Poplar Heights by Marquette and District Historical Guild, c1977, page 153.

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.

Yesteryears - Woodlands Municipal Memoirs by Opal Langrell, 1978, page 89.

We thank Amber Lahti and John Moore for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 21 June 2020

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