Historic Sites of Manitoba: Strathclair School No. 284 (Strathclair, RM of Yellowhead)

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

The Strathclair School District was organized formally in 1884 and a school operated in Strathclair in what is now the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead. In 1913, it became Strathclair Consolidated School when it consolidated with one-room schools from the surrounding vicinity: Elgin School No. 318 and Major School No. 758. Over the years, students from other rural schools came here as they closed: Green Bluff School No. 759, Penrith School No. 813, Wolfe Creek School No. 817, Holylea School No. 904, Pattison School No. 1376, and Marney School No. 275. The school building was demolished in 1973 and is commemorated on the site by an engraved stone sign.

Principals

Period

Principal

1915-1918

Hugh Clarke Fairfield (1877-1961)

1918-1923

David Iverach (1871-1946)

1923-1924

Thomas Patrick King (1873-1954)

1924-1943

Octavius T. Gamey (1877-1963)

1943-1949

Laura Elfreda Shanks (1909-1996)

1949-1957

Walter Thorvaldur Fredrickson (1907-1974)

1957-1982

Elstan Glorydd “E. G. / Wick” Morris (1923-2011)

1982-1985

Ken Storie

1985-1988

Rex Virtue

1988-?

Randy Earle

Vice-Principals

Period

Vice-Principal

1982-?

Randy Earle
Ken Smith

Teachers

School Year

Teachers

1961-1962

Mrs. Gwen Bell, Mrs. Eva Mundell, Mr. Robert Rempel, Mrs. Inez Rinn

Among the other teachers who worked at Strathclair School were Elsie C. Dewar and Lorne A. Finkbeiner (three years).

Photos & Coordinates

Strathclair School

Strathclair School (circa 1917)
Source: Education Department Report, 1917, Manitoba Legislative Library.

Postcard view of the Strathclair School building

Postcard view of the Strathclair School building (no date)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2011-0007.

Strathclair School commemorative sign

Strathclair School commemorative sign (July 2012)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.40339, W100.39140
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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

“Council reports,” Birtle Eyewitness, 3 October 1961, page 10.

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.

“Trustees conduct regular meeting,” Hamiota Echo, 13 September 1988, page 7.

We thank Nathan Kramer and Ken Storie for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 2 June 2021

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