Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sidney School No. 607 (Sidney, Municipality of North Norfolk)

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

The Sidney School District was formally established in October 1889. The first school was located one-half mile south of the town of Sidney, at NW5-11-12W in what is now the Municipality of North Norfolk, and operated from 1890 to 1897, with Miss McLeod of Winnipeg as its first teacher. A two-room brick structure was opened in Sidney and operated from 1897 to 1906. A third, larger two-room frame structure held classes from 1906 to 1968. One of the districts buildings was expanded in 1921 based on architectural drawings of Gilbert C. Parfitt. A third room for the high school was added and operated from 1928 to June 1963, after which senior students were bused to Austin School or Carberry School. Two years after the school closed in 1968, the building was purchased from the Pine Creek School Division and used as a community centre. In July 2000, a monument was erected beside the former school building.

Inside the community centre are plaques commemorating local residents who served and were killed during military service in the First World War and Second World War, including an honour roll created by artist Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald.

Principals

Period

Principal

1900

?

1901

May Clark

1901-1905

Edgar Kenny Marshall (c1876-1956)

1906-1907

William E. Kilpatrick

1907-1908

Ida Madill

1908

Robert Moir

1909-1911

Leslie Ernest Grace (1881-1954)

1911-1912

Ethel A. Buckley

1912-1920

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (1882-1954)

1920-1921

John James Jackson

1921-1922

John Erickson (?-?)

1922-1924

Benjamin Hodkinson (1864-1948)

1924-1925

Ruth Parker (1894-1953)

1925-1930

Sarah Ann Sproat (1885-1976)

1930-1935

Jean Willis Little

1935-1937

David S. Shellenberg (?-?)

1937-1939

Claude Amnesty Joyce (1908-1997)

1939-1941

Cecil Cullen Foster (1911-1998)

1941-1942

Irene Rose Bonniman

1942-1943

D. Bruce Johnson

1943-1945

Anne Margaret Zalubniak [Zalubnick]

1945-1948

Jack Hersey Gibson (1917-2009)

1948-1949

Kenneth Donald Bruce (1892-1968)

1949-1956

William Vladimir “Bill” Domitrack (1908-1978)

1956-1960

Frank Cecil Jacobs (1914-2002)

1960-1962

J. R. Fawcett

Teachers

Among the early teachers of Sidney School were Lena McLeod (Spring-Fall 1890, Spring-Fall 1892), Henry Campbell (Spring-Fall 1891), Carrie S. Caryle (Spring-Fall 1893), Edgar S. Smith (Spring-Fall 1894, Fall 1896 - Fall 1897), F. Mayers (pt Spring 1895), W. Wagg (pt Spring 1895), R. L. Ross (Fall 1895), George H. Knowlton (Spring 1896), and Mary H. Hodgson (Spring-Fall 1898).

Period

Teachers

1899

William S. Emmerson [Emerson?] (all grades)

1900

May Clarke (? grades, Spring), William S. Emmerson [Emerson?] (? grades, Spring), Lottie Maddin (? grades, Fall), Nettie Wilson (? grades, Fall)

1901

May Clarke (senior grades, Spring), Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades, Fall), Nellie Wilson (junior grades)

1902

Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), ? (junior grades)

1903

Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), ? (junior grades)

1904

Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), ? (junior grades)

1905

Edgar Kenny Marshall (senior grades), Charles L. Willis [Mills?] (junior grades; January - c. December; all grades, December)

1906

William E. Kilpatrick (senior grades), Tena [Lena?] McIntosh (junior grades)

1907

William E. Kilpatrick (senior grades, Spring), Tena [Lena?]McIntosh (junior grades), Ida Madill (senior grades, Fall)

1908

Tena [Lena?] McIntosh (junior grades, Spring), Ida Madill (senior grades, Spring), Robert Moir (senior grades, Fall), Minie [Minnie?] M. Reid (junior grades, Fall)

1909

Kate E. “Katie” Armstrong (junior grades, Fall), Leslie Ernest Grace (senior grades), Minnie M. Reid (junior grades, Spring)

1910

Kate E. “Katie” Armstrong (junior grades), Leslie Ernest Grace (senior grades)

1911

Kate E. “Katie” Armstrong (junior grades, pt Spring), Ethel A. Buckley (senior grades, pt Spring - Fall) Leslie Ernest Grace (senior grades, pt Spring), Margaret McKay (pt Spring - Fall)

1912

(January-June only): Ethel A. Buckley (? grades), Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (? grades)

1912-1913

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (senior grades), Laura G. Crewson (junior grades, Spring), Kemina M. McKay (pt Fall, junior grades), Margaret McKay (pt Fall, junior grades)

1913-1914

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (senior grades), Laura G. Crewson (junior grades)

1914-1915

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4)

1915-1916

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4)

1916-1917

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4)

1917-1918

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4)

1918-1919

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4)

1919-1920

Harriet Henrietta “Etta” Crewson (grades 5-9), Laura G. Crewson (grades 1-4)

1920-1921

Gertrude E. Jackson (grades 1-4), John James Jackson (grades 5-9)

1921-1922

Beatrice Creasy (grades 1-4), John Erickson (grades 10-11), Louise Inkster (grades 5-9)

Among the other teachers of Sidney School were Effie R. Johnson (1922), Mary E. Clark (1922-1924), W. C. Hodkinson (1923), Margaret A. Chalmers (1924), Aileen M. Moore (1924), Marjorie M. Shortreed (1925-1926), Bertha Nelson (1925), Harry Bond Hunter (1925-1927), Agnes Meta Neville (1927-1930), Florence C. Blair (1927-1928), Jean L. Babb (1928), Thomas Leslie Fox (1929-1930), Susan Menzies (1930-1935), Dorothy I. Bailey (1930-1932), Marjorie M. Muirhead (1932-1936), Muriel Moffatt (1935-1936), Margaret Jeannette Patterson (1936-1938), Muriel MacCunningham (1939-1940), Earla Gertrude Nattrass (1941), Jessie Murray Hannah (1941-1942), Jack H. Gibson (1942), Mrs. Betha Evelyn Gibson (1942-1947), D. Bruce Johnson (1943), Mrs. Rhoda E. Gibson (1943), Tranna F. Calvert (1946-1954), Donna W. Wedow (1948-1949), Kathleen Shoemaker (1950), Mrs. Donna W. Wright (1950-1956), Doreen M. Skogsterd (1954-1956), Mrs. Doreen Stephenson (1955-1956), Lucy Medevid (1955-1957), Muriel J. Cherry (1957-1959), Glen A. Lowe (1958-1963), Ethel A. Gregory (1963-1964), Mrs. W. Alton (1964-1965), Mrs. Perly Bell (1965), Mrs. Dave Sissons (1966-1967), and Penny Emisch Ham (1966-1967).

Photos & Coordinates

Sidney School building erected in 1906

Sidney School building erected in 1906 (circa 1906)
Source: Education Department Report, 1907, Manitoba Legislative Library.

Sidney School

Sidney School (circa 1910) by W. J. Bates
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2024-0028

Sidney School

Sidney School (no date) by A. B. Fallis
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 96.

Sidney School

Sidney School (June 1967)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Architectural Survey - Sidney 3.

The former Sidney School

The former Sidney School (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 895.

The former Sidney School

The former Sidney School (April 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Sidney School commemorative monument

Sidney School commemorative monument (April 2010)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89834, W99.08553
denoted by symbol on the map above

First World War Casualties

Name

Occupation

Service

Rank

Birth Date

Death Date

Arthur Allwood
[Brandon Armoury]

Farmer

8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Private

17 August 1888

3 November 1917

Charles Edgar Atheling (Dykes) Bredin DSO
[Edrans, Next of Kin, Portage]

Farmer

28th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Major

18 August 1876

18 November 1917

William Dines

Farmer

1st Canadian Mounted Rifles

Corporal

1 March 1892

29 September 1918

George Hunt

Farm Labourer

27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Private

14 May 1886

3 May 1917

Stanley King
[Portage]

Farmer

8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Private

13 May 1892

9 April 1918

John Lauder
[Cypress River]

Farmer

8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Private

25 October 1896

28 April 1917

Charles William McElrea
[Next of Kin]

Electrical Engineer

2nd Army Troops Company, Canadian Engineers

Sergeant

6 August 1887

31 May 1917

Clarence Edwin McLachlan
[Carberry]

Farmer's son

78th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Private

18 December 1896

19 February 1917

Alexander McNab
[Knox Presbyterian, Portage, Telephones]

Telephone Inspector

10th Battalion, Canadian Infantry

Sergeant

21 August 1891

24 May 1915

Joseph Edmond Sexton
[Carberry]

Farmhand

1st Canadian Mounted Rifles

Private

9 April 1888

20 December 1916

Sources:

“Sidney,” Winnipeg Free Press, 21 March 1903, page 17.

“Town and general [E.K. Marshall, Principal of the Sidney School ...],” MacGregor Herald, 3 December 1903, page 8.

“Debentures for sale [Sidney School District No. 607],” Winnipeg Free Press, 12 October 1905, page 2.

“Austin [Mr. Willis ...],” MacGregor Herald, 4 January 1906, page 5.

Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.

Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #40 School District of Sidney, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.

School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.

Plans and shop drawings (GS 0100), Sidney School District, Addition, GR3125, Archives of Manitoba.

Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.

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

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 1161.

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.

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 Pearl Wieler and Darryl Toews for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 20 July 2024

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