Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rosebank School No. 91 / Rosebank Monument (Rosebank, RM of Thompson)

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

A monument on a wooded site in the Rural Municipality of Thompson was erected in 1989 to commemorate the pioneers of the village of Rosebank.

Rosebank began one mile west and one mile south of its present position, at York Springs on SE1-5-6 west of the Principal Meridian. With the coming of the railway in 1889, it moved to SW8-5-5W. Over the years, the village consisted of a hotel, lumber yard, post office, bank (later the community hall), crushing mill, blacksmith shop, three grocery stores, grain elevators, ice cream parlour, machinery dealerships, livery stable, billiard room, barber shop, and racetrack. The approximate population at its peak was 100. A fire in 1931 started the decline.

A log school opened at the original site with another built in 1892 southwest of this monument on SE7-5-5W. Rosebank School No. 91, a two-storey school located north of here, opened in 1906 and closed in 1964. The bell on top of this monument came from the last school. Ager School No. 1318, located at NE29-4-5W was consolidated with Rosebank School in August 1960. A curling rink was erected on this site in 1918. A new building put up in 1952 closed in 1972. The Presbyterian Church east of the monument was erected in 1899 and closed in 1988. An Anglican church south of the monument began in 1909 and closed around 1930.

Principals

Period

Principal

1929-1933

Hilda Effler

1933-1953

?

1953-1954

Frank Mikolayenko (c1919-2001)

1954-1955

Henry Teichgraf Thiessen (1918-2003)

1955-1957

John Abram Voth

1957-1960

Joseph Watson Kachor (1923-1985)

1960-1961

William George Cooper (1911-1983)

Teachers

Among the teachers who worked at Rosebank School were Crissie Duvno (1885), Mary Brommell (1886-1887), Nellie Collier (1888-1890), Grace Irving (1890-1891), Maggie Logan (1892), F. M. Duncan (1892-1893), Annie F. Playfair (1893), Lizzie Stewart (1894), Alice Lamb (1894-1895), Jennie Grieve (1895-1897), M. George (1898), F. M. Boreland (1899-1900), James McGillivary (1901), Mr. Mott (1902), Clara Smith (1902), Edith Alstine (1903), Miss Disney (1904), Lizzie Stevenson (1905), Annie Nixon (1906-1907), Sadie Cleland (1907), Jean Wilkie (1908), J. E. Nunn (1908), Ada Venables (1909), McPhail (1909), Charles Henry Godfrey (1909), W. Andrew (1910-1911), E. Bothwell (1910), J. Burns (1910), B. Read (1911-1912), Olive Park (1912), John A. MacAulay (1913), Mary Ramsey (1913-1914), S. H. Sutton (1914), Cora Hefford (1915), A. Purcel (1915-1917), A. F. Asselstine (1916-1917), F. Cunningham (1917), A. McCormick (1918), A. Collins (1918), M. Shore (1918), R. Orchard (1919), M. Shore (1919), H. Bond (1919), M. Armitage (1920), Edith A. Fingland (1920), O. Jackson (1921), Gladys Hope Hines (1921-1922), Muriel Paterson (1922), Florence McNee (1923-1926), N. B. Smith (1923), Roseanne Carey (1924), P. Bell (1925), Gladys Hope Hines (1926), Jean Burnett (1927-1928), E. Foreman (1927), E. McKitrick (1927), Hilda Effler (1926-1932), Meta Hunter (1929-1931), Lillian McConnel (1932-1935), Laura E. Shanks (1932-1934), Freda Shack (1936), Miss Mahon (1937), Park (1938), Body (1938), Marguerite Wallman (1939-1941), Eunice Wood (1942), Emgard Laudin (1943-1944), Winelda Cheasley (1945), Laura Olafson (1946), Mildred Snarr (1947-1949), Lionel Wasilka (1950), Anne Shwaluk (1951-1952), Anne Bugara (1953-1954), M. Brown (1955), Elizabeth Stevenson (1956-1958), Laura Penny (1959-1960), Sharon Carson (1961-1962), and Elaine Shewfelt (1963-1964).

Photos & Coordinates

Rosebank School, situated at N49.37232 W98.11406

Rosebank School, situated at N49.37232 W98.11406 (1968)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Rosebank 2.

Rosebank commemorative monument

Rosebank commemorative monument (September 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Rosebank commemorative monument

Rosebank commemorative monument (June 2023)
Source: Rose Kuzina

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.37185, W98.11355
denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Rosebank Presbyterian Church / Rosebank United Church (Rosebank, RM of Thompson)

Sources:

“Aerial view of Rosebank, 24 June 1944,” Charles J. Gingras collection #165, N18198, Archives of Manitoba.

Obituary [Charles Henry Godfrey], Portage la Prairie Manitoba Leader, 29 April 1954. [Manitoba Legislative Library]

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.

Miami & R. M. of Thompson Chronicles by Thompson History Book Committee, c1998. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.M50Mia]

We thank J. Blair MacAulay, Nathan Kramer, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 13 August 2023

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