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Principals | Vice-Principals | Teachers | Photos & Coordinates | Sources
The Thames School District was established in February 1920 and a one-room schoolhouse operated at SE20-2-2W in what is now the Municipality of Rhineland. Increasing student enrollment necessitated the construction of a second school building at the site. In 1938, as enrollment increased even more, the original school was renamed Thames South and a second building, called Thames North, was constructed about two miles north at NW29-2-2W (about N49.16238, W97.69736). The two buildings at the Thames South site were replaced in 1946 by a single, two-classroom structure. A third classroom in its basement was opened in 1959, to accommodate students in grades 9 to 11.
The Thames North School closed in 1964 and was moved to another site for use as a granary. Its former site reverted to agricultural land. In 1971, the district became part of the Rhineland School Division. The two-classroom Thames South School building continued in operation until 1976 when it closed. The building was dismantled in 1977 but the schoolyard continued to be used for community activities. A monument at the site erected in August 2004 commemorates the pioneers, teachers, trustees, and students of Thames School.
Period
Principal
1960-1961
John B. Wiebe
School Year
Teachers
1960-1961
Miss Helen Giesbrecht (grades 5-8), Miss Margaret Harder (grades 1-4), Victor Enns (Thames North, grades 1-8)
Among the other teachers of Thames School was Mary Reimer.
The first Thames South School building (no date) by G. G. Neufeld
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 73.
Thames North School building (no date) by G. G. Neufeld
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 73.
The two-classroom Thames South School built in 1946 (no date)
Source: Irene & Walter Giesbrecht
Thames School commemorative monument (November 2020)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Plaque on the Thames School commemorative monument (no date)
Source: Al SchmidtSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.13359, W97.68448
denoted by symbol on the map above
Altona East topographic map, 62H/4 East, Edition 1 ASE, Series A743 [UFS Reference Collection].
Thames High School [Yearbook], 1961. [Copy in possession of Gordon Goldsborough]
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.
We thank Al Schmidt (Altona and District Heritage Research Centre), Henry Unger, J. C. Fehr, Irene & Walter Giesbrecht, Ed Giesbrecht, Marie Dueck, and Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 November 2023
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