Link to:
Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
This two-storey brick building on the north side of Portage la Prairie was designed by architect Charles Herbert Mounsey and constructed in 1910. Its four classrooms opened for use in January 1911 and electric lights were installed in 1917, but water and sewer service did not arrive until 1941. The school roof was badly damaged during a tornado that hit the city on 22 June 1922 but it was repaired in time for classes to resume in September.
By the late 1960s, the old school was said to be “structurally and academically obsolete.” It had no gymnasium, library, or music room, and no staff room or office. Every available space was being used for classrooms, including two in the basement separated by the furnace room. There were only single washrooms on each floor, so boys and girls had to use them in shifts. Rather than commit the resources to upgrade the building, the School Board chose to close it in June 1972 and the students were sent to the newer La Verendrye School nearby. Six years later, the building was renovated as offices for the Portage la Prairie School Division.
It is the only known example of an urban ward school remaining in Manitoba.
Principals
Period |
Principal |
1911-1915 |
Margaret McCarthy Costigan |
1916-1920 |
Frances Ormand |
1920-1922 |
Olive Florence Francis Webster |
1922-1923 |
Miss Paul |
1923-1934 |
Annie Timmins Barber (1881-1972) |
1934-1940 |
Ina Margaret Pearson Fraser (1907-1940) |
1940-1941 |
Miss E. Galbraith |
1941-1964 |
Kalista May “Kay” Robb (1902-1982) |
1964-1972 |
Morris Boychuk |
Teachers
School Year |
Teachers |
1911-1912 |
Mrs. Edward-Jones, Mildred Trimble Rutledge |
1912-1913 |
Mildred Trimble Rutledge |
1913-1914 |
? |
1914-1915 |
? |
1915-1916 |
? |
1916-1917 |
? |
1917-1918 |
? |
1918-1919 |
? |
1919-1920 |
Miss Kestler |
1920-1921 |
Stella McCuaig Denyer, Ruth McMillan |
1921-1922 |
Mona Oulton, Jessie Roe Smith |
1922-1923 |
? |
1923-1924 |
? |
1924-1925 |
Kathleen Garland, Miss Horton, Grace Tucker |
1925-1926 |
Edith Ogletree McKillop, Grace Tucker |
1926-1927 |
Grace Tucker |
1927-1928 |
Ruth Francis, Grace Tucker |
1928-1929 |
Miss McKay |
1929-1930 |
Miss Abbott, Bernice Nixon, Ina Pearson |
1930-1931 |
Miss Abbott, Bernice Nixon, Ina Pearson |
1931-1932 |
Miss Abbott, Bernice Nixon, Ina Pearson |
1932-1933 |
Miss Abbott, Bernice Nixon, Ina Pearson |
1933-1934 |
Miss Abbott, Bernice Nixon, Ina Pearson |
1934-1935 |
Miss Hickling |
1935-1936 |
Miss E. Galbraith, Kay Robb |
1936-1937 |
Miss E. Galbraith, Kay Robb |
1937-1938 |
Elsie Barton, Miss E. Galbraith, Kay Robb |
1938-1939 |
Miss E. Galbraith, Lal Langford, Kay Robb |
1939-1940 |
Miss E. Galbraith, Lal Langford, Kay Robb |
1940-1941 |
Lal Langford, Kay Robb |
1941-1942 |
Lal Langford, Helen Piloski |
1942-1943 |
Dorothy Leonhardt, Helen Piloski |
1943-1944 |
Gertrude Milne, Helen Piloski |
1944-1945 |
Helen Piloski, Chris McLean Troughton |
1945-1946 |
Helen Piloski, Miss Sammeter |
1946-1947 |
Helen Piloski, Helen Sklipowich |
1947-1948 |
Ronald Boulter, Helen Piloski |
1948-1949 |
Miss Devereau, Catherine McDougall, Helen Piloski |
1949-1950 |
Mrs. Leonard Clark, Anne Poyser Pallister, Helen Piloski |
1950-1951 |
Anne Poyser Pallister, Helen Piloski, Miss Rubinek |
1951-1952 |
Evelyn M. Hopkins, Helen Piloski, Mrs. Harold Simpson |
1952-1953 |
Mae I. Leslie, Helen Piloski |
1953-1954 |
Mae I. Leslie, Helen Piloski, Beth Sladek |
1954-1955 |
Miss E. Courice, Martha Holovach, Helen Piloski, Mrs. Pirot, Ann Shykitka, Beth Sladek |
1955-1956 |
Lillian Beddome, Ronald Boulter, Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski, Ann Shykitka |
1956-1957 |
Ronald Boulter, Mrs. Ella Cook, Mrs. A. L. Lamont, Miss M. A. R. McCall, Helen Piloski, Ann Shykitka |
1957-1958 |
Ronald Boulter, Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski |
1958-1959 |
Ronald Boulter, Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski |
1959-1960 |
Ronald Boulter, Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski, Jean Yaremkevich |
1960-1961 |
Alice Boychuk, Denise Wagner Chiponski, Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski, Mrs. Skinner, Jean Yaremkevich |
1961-1962 |
Ralph Barry, Denise Wagner Chiponski, Mrs. Ella Cook, John Dueck, Cornelius Furdievich, Helen Piloski, Jean Yaremkevich |
1962-1963 |
Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski, Jean Yaremkevich |
1963-1964 |
Mrs. Ella Cook, Helen Piloski, Jean Yaremkevich |
1964-1965 |
Mrs. Bergen, Miss S. Hodgkinson, Mrs. P. McRae, Mrs. E. Moggey, Helen Piloski |
1965-1966 |
Peggy Curwen, Edith Lamont, Marion McCosky Makarchuk, Velma McDonald, Helen Piloski |
1966-1967 |
Peggy Curwen, Edith Lamont, Marion McCosky Makarchuk, Martha Meikle, Helen Piloski, Delores Wooley |
1967-1968 |
Rose Browning, Peggy Curwen, Margaret Giesbrecht, Edith Lamont, Helen Piloski, Delores Wooley |
1968-1969 |
Mrs. R. Browning, Margaret Giesbrecht, Edith Lamont, Brenda Meikle, Iris Parrack, Helen Piloski, Miss Lois Vust |
1969-1970 |
Dorothy Crealock, Edith Lamont, Iris Parrack, Helen Piloski, Sheila Purvis, Miss Lois Vust |
1970-1971 |
Lee Lutz, Iris Parrack, Helen Piloski, Sheila Purvis, Miss Lois Vust |
1971-1972 |
Lee Lutz, Iris Parrack, Helen Piloski, Sheila Purvis, Miss Lois Vust |
Among the other teachers of North Ward School were Pearl Webster, Myrtle McCarthy, Kathleen Manson, Nel Tate Owens, Bentina Erlendson
Photos & Coordinates

North Ward School (no date) Source: PCI Archive, Vopni Press Collection, 0262a.

The former North Ward School building (September 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

The former North Ward School building (March 2021)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.98183, W98.29415 denoted by symbol on the map above
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See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Charles Herbert Mounsey (1874-1924)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: North Ward School Monument / La Verendrye School (500 Seventh Street NW, Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: West Ward School (Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Victoria School (32 Fifth Street SE, Portage la Prairie)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Central School / Portage Normal School (Portage la Prairie)
Sources:
Death registration [Annie Timmins Barber], British Columbia Vital Statistics.
“Portage lists teaching staff as school opens,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 September 1951, page 34.
Obituary [Anne Ethel Poyser Pallister], Winnipeg Free Press, 6 July 2011.
History of North Ward School, July 1894 to June 1972 by Mrs. Georgie Simmons, circa 1972. [Copy at Portage la Prairie School Division Office, December 2013.]
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
We thank Michael Mauws, Hazen Barrett, Morris Boychuk, Nathan Kramer, and Rose Kuzina for providing information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 30 July 2021
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