Historic Sites of Manitoba: Meleb School No. 1665 (Meleb, RM of Armstrong)

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

Meleb was named after local farmer Stefan Melnyk and storekeeper Abraham Lebman, who donated land for the Canadian Pacific Railway station and siding at the site around 1910.

Meleb School, formed on 20 February 1913 by By-Law 229 of the Rural Municipality of Gimli, was originally named King George School. In 1914, the predominantly Ukrainian and Polish pioneers of the area contracted Michael Gottfried (builder of the nearby St. Michael’s Archangels Church) to construct a school. A one-room frame building was erected on this site, at SW23-20-2 east of the Principal Meridian operating within the Rural Municipality of Kruezberg, now part of the Rural Municipality of Armstrong.

A second room, designed by architect Gilbert C. Parfitt, added in 1925 after enrolment peaked at 83 students in 1923-24. The school taught grades 1 to 8 until 1925 and grades 1 to 10 from 1925 to 1942. Grades 9 and 10 were taken by correspondence from 1942 to 1954. Grades 1 to 11 were taught until 1960, at which time grades 1 to 8 were taught until 1967. Evergreen School took over secondary education in 1959. Meleb School closed in 1967 when all education was consolidated in the province. The school building was sold and converted into a private residence. This cairn was dedicated on 7 July 1990 in front of the former school building. A model of the original school building sits in nearby Meleb-Park-Cumming Schools Reunion Park.

Principals

Period	Principal
1925-1935	?
1935-1937	Adam William Muzychuk
1937-1942	William Chimchak (1902-1981)
1942-1954	No Principal
1954-1955	James Somerville McKessock (1911-1983)
1955-1956	Oles Bejzyk [Bejyk]
1956-1960	James Somerville McKessock (1911-1983)

Teachers

Period	Teachers
1926-1927	Lucille Kemp (grades 1-4), Evangeline M. Turner (grades 5-9)
1927-1928	Janet Duncan (grades 1-4), Sarah Hershfield (grades 5-9)
1928-1929	M. B. Hunter (grades 4-6, 1929), Mrs. A. P. Olson (grades 4-7, 1928), P. M. Thorsteinson (grades 4-7, 1928), Marguerite Tod (grades 4-6, 1929), Mrs. Marie Wall (grades 4-7, 1928)
1929-1930	Beryl Dack (grades 1-3), Ethel M. Groves (grades 4-8)
1930-1931	Ethel M. Groves (grades 4-8), Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 1-3)
1931-1932	Ethel M. Groves (grades 4-8), Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 1-3)
1932-1933	Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 4-8), Mary Asenath Kelly (grades 1-3, 1932), Mabel Irene McKay (grades 1-3, 1933)
1933-1934	Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 4-8), Mabel Irene McKay (grades 1-3)
1934-1935	Margaret Frances Jackson (grades 4-8), Emily Ann Priest (grades 1-3)
1935-1936	Adam William Muzychuk (grades 4-9), Emily Ann Priest (grades 1-3)
1936-1937	Michael Richard Firman (grades 1-3), Adam William Muzychuk (grades 4-10)
1937-1938	Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-3), William Chimchak (grades 4-10)
1938-1939	Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1939-1940	Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1940-1941	Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1941-1942	Wanda Anne Chimchak (grades 1-4), William Chimchak (grades 5-10)
1942-1943	William Chimchak (grades 1-10)
1943-1944	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1944-1945	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1945-1946	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1946-1947	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1947-1948	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1948-1949	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1949-1950	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-10)
1950-1951	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1951-1952	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-8)
1952-1953	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1953-1954	Colin Doroschuk (grades 1-9)
1954-1955	Margaret Clossick (grades 1-8, 1954), James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), G. Laurine Smith (grades 1-8, 1955)
1955-1956	Oles Bejzyk [Bejyk] (grades 9-11), Jean Yalowica (grades 1-8)
1956-1957	James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), Jean Yalowica (grades 1-8)
1957-1958	James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), William Krihinicki (grades 1-8)
1958-1959	James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1959-1960	James Somerville McKessock (grades 9-11), Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1960-1961	Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1961-1962	Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1962-1963	Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1963-1964	Tony Sorokaski (grades 1-8)
1964-1965	Virginia Zubyk (grades 1-8)
1965-1966	Ivan Mike Packulak (grades 1-8)
1966-1967	Ivan Mike Packulak (grades 1-8)

Among the other teachers of Meleb School were H. [N.?] Dorosh (1917), H. T. Duris (1917), J. E. Golembioski (1918-1919), Hnat Onofreyo (1921-1922), Nicholas Boychuk (1925), Evangeline M. Turner (1925), and William Jerowsky (c1951).

Photos & Coordinates

Meleb School (no date) by H. D. Cumming Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 13. Former Meleb School building (circa 1990) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 81. Meleb School commemorative monument with the former school building in the background (August 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.72881, W97.21853 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Meleb-Park-Cumming Schools Reunion Park (RM of Armstrong)

Sources:

A History of Education in the Evergreen School Division by John C. Gottfried, MA thesis, University of Manitoba, 1965.

Plans and shop drawings (GS 0100), Meleb School District No. 1665, GR3125, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Meleb School District No. 1665 Daily Registers, GR6124, Archives of Manitoba.

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.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 22 January 2021

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