Historic Sites of Manitoba: Norfolk School No. 897 (Municipality of North Norfolk)

Established formally as a school district in March 1897, the first building for Norfolk School was built at this site, SE22-12-12W in what is now the Municipality of North Norfolk, in 1898. The land had been donated by local farmer Mr. McCaig. It served as the educational and social centre of the community until a new building replaced it in 1956. The original school building was then used as a honey house and workshop. The new building featured a furnace, indoor plumbing, a kitchen, library and finished basement that was used for community functions. With school consolidation in the 1960s, this facility closed in 1965, with the remaining students being bused to Austin Consolidated School No. 2433 or MacGregor Consolidated School No. 2434. A monument, dedicated to students, teachers and pioneers of the Norfolk community, was erected at a ceremony on 20 July 1991. It incorrectly dates the start of the school to 1889.

The teachers who worked at Norfolk School included: Bertha Doak (1989-1899), May Baldwin (1900), F. J. Mayers (1901), Elizabeth Sly (1905), Mary C. Connolly (1906), A. McCallum (1906), C. J. Madill (1906), Mabel Cooksley (1907), Horace H. Cooper (1908), Annie B. MacMillan (1908), G. Everton Smith (1909-1910), James T. Hulme (1911), Christy Keating (1912), Nina M. Sly (1913), Elsie Moggey (1914), Jean Kerr (1915-1916), Margaret Laurie (1917), K. Tooth (1918), Henry B. Bees (1918), Fannie E. Doak (1918-1919), Greta V. Nelson (1919-1920), M. A. Hutchison (1920), A. Emily Dupuis (1921-1928), Alma T. Smiley (1928-1930), Iris Campbell (1930-1933), Edna Knox (1933-1934), Irene B. Towle (1934-1937), Susan Menzies (1937-1939), Glenister Kemp (1940), Annie L. Langdon (1941), Mary Irene Shoaff (1941-1942), Irene Blanche Towle (1945-1948), Jennie Haucharyk (1948-1949), Waldimar Enns (1949-1950), Edith Michie (1950-1952), Loraine M. Fox (1952-1953), Christine A. White (1953), Edward Picklyk (1954), Patricia Duncan (1954), Margaret C. Coulthard (1955-1957), Evelyn M. McNaughton (1957-1958), Joyce N. Bertnick (1958-1959), Betty Ann Carefoot (1959-1960), Isla Mildred Kennedy (1960-1962), and Annie J. Manns (1962-1964).

Norfolk School (no date) by A. B. Fallis Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 19. Norfolk School commemorative monument (September 2010) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.01956, W99.01905 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

A Rear View Mirror: A History of the Austin and Surrounding Districts by Anne M. Collier, Altona: Friesen Printing, 1967.

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.

Through Fields and Dreams: A History of the Rural Municipality of North Norfolk and MacGregor by The History Book Committee of the North Norfolk-MacGregor Archives, 1998, page 1121.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 February 2021

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