The Overhill School District was organized formally in 1921 and a one-room schoolhouse was erected the next year at NE22-10-7W in the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie. The building burned down in March 1951 and was replaced by a new one constructed later that year at a cost of $10,000. It closed permanently in June 1967 when its land became part of the Portage la Prairie School Division. The school, barn, and land were sold, with the school being used as a private residence. It burned in May 1987. A monument to the pioneers, trustees, teachers and students of Overhill School was dedicated at a reunion on 2 August 1992.
Some of the teachers who worked at Overhill School through the years were Nora Maguire (daughter of T. M. Maguire, 1922-1923), Leonard Goldsborough (1948-1949), Gordon Gunn (1950-1951), Pearl McLaughry, and Lorraine Lestage.
Students beside the original Overhill School building (1948)
Source: Leonard Goldsborough
Students beside the original Overhill School building (1948)
Source: Leonard Goldsborough
Former school sign displayed at reunion (August 1992)
Source: Leonard Goldsborough
Former Overhill students and teacher Leonard Goldsborough (right) at monument unveiling (August 1992)
Source: Leonard Goldsborough
Overhill School commemorative monument (August 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Overhill School commemorative monument (April 2023)
Source: Rose KuzinaSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.85719, W98.32442
denoted by symbol on the map above
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.
“Former school buns,” Portage Daily Graphic, 13 May 1987.
Rural Schools of Portage la Prairie School Division #24 by Muriel Wright, 1996.
We thank Janice Goldsborough and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 4 May 2023
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