Historic Sites of Manitoba: Suthwyn School No. 530 (RM of Springfield)

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Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources

The Suthwyn School District was established in April 1888 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SW35-10-4E in the Rural Municipality of Springfield. The original structure, which measured 18 feet by 24 feet, was condemned in 1920 for lack of needed repairs. In the interim, the district arranged for pupils to attend classes at South Springfield School (1920-1921) and Oak Hummock School (1921-1924). The repaired school re-opened in 1924 and saw a further decade of use before enrollment exceeded its capacity. The building was purchased by Fred Van Slyck in the latter 1930s and relocated to NW26-10-4E.

In 1934, a new schoolhouse measuring 24 feet by 40 feet with a basement was built on the same site. A three-room cottage was acquired for $1,500 in 1953 and converted into a teacherage. In preparation for construction of the Red River Floodway, the school land was expropriated by the provincial government with the school district receiving $15,000 in compensation. The school closed in 1963 and the building was sold for $165. It changed hands several times and was moved by its last known buyer, Gerhard Socha, to a location on Copeland Street in South Transcona. The teacherage was sold and moved to Lake Winnipeg as a seasonal cabin.

In 1964, the district was dissolved and its area became part of the Dugald Consolidated School District and later the Transcona-Springfield School Division.

Among the teachers of Suthwyn School were Phoebe Collins (Fall 1888 - Spring 1889, wife of Mr. Tobias), ? (Fall 1889), Mary Hislop (Spring 1890 - Spring 1893 & Fall 1895 - Fall 1896, wife of Mr. Barber), Mary McLeod (Fall 1893), J. Valade (Spring 1894 - Spring 1895), Agnes L. Forest (Spring-Fall 1897), Ann D. Bayley (Spring-Fall 1898), Wilfred Dowell Bayley (Spring 1899), Margaret O. Scoular (Fall 1899 - Spring 1900), Dr. E. S. Hudson (Spring-Fall 1901), ? (Spring 1902 - Fall 1904), Miss Syme (?-?), Miss O. F. Benson (?-?), Annie W. M. Munroe (Spring 1905), Frances Penrose (Fall 1905 & pt Fall 1906), Ethel Penrose (Spring 1906), William John Gordon Scott (pt Fall 1906 - Spring 1907), Wilhelmina “Mina” Gillan [Gillam?] (Fall 1907 - Spring 1909, wife of Mr. Ferguson), Mabel E. Gowanlock (Fall 1909, daughter of James Blair Gowanlock), Eva I. Bissett [Bisset?] (Fall 1910 - Spring 1911, wife of Mr. McKenzie), Estelle McMannis (Fall 1911), Florence I. Galloway (Spring 1912), Miss E. Hamilton (pt Fall 1912), Miss N. Nixon (pt Fall 1912), Miss Alix Masterman (pt Fall 1912), Mina L. Ferguson (pt Fall 1912), Frederick Ladlay “Fred” Bousfield (Spring 1914), Richard E. Brown (Fall 1914 - Spring 1916), Ivy Ida Caroline Morrison (Fall 1916 - Spring 1917), Minnie McCrea (August 1917), Agnes Pearson (September-December 1917), Jessie Lyle Blair (Spring-Fall 1918), Flora MacLean (Spring 1919), Delma Erikson (Fall 1919), Walter Ellard McCann (Spring 1920 - Spring 1921, at South Springfield School), Minnie McRea (Fall 1921 - Spring 1924, at Oak Hummock School), Miss J. Peden (August-November 1924), Lavinia B. Williams (November 1924 - December 1925), Rose I. Tow (Spring 1926), Grace Margaret Dunning (Fall 1926 - Spring 1928), Aileen Gunn (Fall 1928 - Spring 1929), Margaret May Scarfe (September 1929 - pt January 1930), Sylvia Geneve Olson Vidal (pt January - June 1930 & Fall 1930 - Spring 1932), Ethel Christine Johnson (Fall 1932 - Spring 1933), Alice Margaret Rosalie Thomsen (Fall 1933 - Spring 1935, wife of Mr. Hanson), Stewart Gibson Dack (Fall 1935 - Spring 1936), Katherine Isabel Willis (Fall 1936 - Spring 1937), Anne Keith (Fall 1937 - Spring 1942), Louise Edna Smith (Fall 1942 - Spring 1943), Winnifred Emily Jacques (Fall 1943 - Spring 1944), Helen Hutzel (Fall 1944 - Spring 1945), Elizabeth Bainbridge Morland (Fall 1945 - Spring 1948), Pearl Romanick (Fall 1948 - Spring 1949), Olga Krawetz (Fall 1949 - Spring 1950), Angela M. Claeys (Fall 1950 - Spring 1951), Betty Ann Nolin (Fall 1951 - Spring 1956, wife of Mr. Smith), Emilie Dmyterko (Fall 1956 - Spring 1957), Eugenia Sopiwnyk (Fall 1957 - Spring 1963), Mrs. E. Badiuk (?-?), and Miss J. King (?-?).

Photos & Coordinates

Suthwyn School

Suthwyn School (no date) by R. Goulet
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 84.

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.87174, W96.94655
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

Dugald West topographic map, 62H/15, Edition 2, Series A743 [Archives of Manitoba].

Board of Education registers (A 0050), GR7643, Archives of Manitoba.

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

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

“Suthwyn School District No. 530 - tenders for school building,” Winnipeg Free Press, 5 May 1934, page 22.

Springfield, 1st Rural Municipality in Manitoba, 1873-1973, Dugald Women’s Institute.

“97-year-old home donated to museum,” by Carol Talbot, Steinbach Carillon, 19 October 1983, page 2.

“Museum acquisition represents 1900 period,” by Carol Talbot, Steinbach Carillon, 1 August 1984, page 8B.

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.

This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 9 March 2023

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