Historic Sites of Manitoba: Portia School No. 2074 (RM of Alonsa)

The Portia School District was established formally in May 1921, named for a character in a play by William Shakespeare, and a school building operated at 32-22-12W in what later became the Rural Municipality of Alonsa. In 1936, it became part of the Alonsa Municipal School District. The original building was destroyed by fire in 1952 and a replacement was constructed the following year. The school closed in 1963. The building is still present at the site.

Among the teachers who worked at Portia School through the years were Mrs. Moisley, Miss McCormick, Miss Blight, Miss Tennant, Miss Shirtcliffe, Miss Patmore, and Miss Reid.

Portia School

Portia School (no date) by R. M. Stevenson
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 89.

The former Portia school building

The former Portia school building (August 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

The interior of the Portia School building

The interior of the Portia School building (August 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Portia School monument with building in the background

Portia School monument with building in the background (August 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.91943, W99.12518
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Rainbow's End: Kinosota - Alonsa District, Alonsa Book Committee, 1985, Manitoba Legislative Library F5648.A46.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 18 January 2021

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