Historic Sites of Manitoba: Wassewa School No. 612 (Municipality of Boissevain-Morton)

The Wassewa School District was established formally in November 1889 and it operated a schoolhouse at SW26-2-21W in what is now the Municipality of Boissevain-Morton. Closed temporarily between 1908 and 1914, the school closed permanently in 1967 and the district was dissolved the following year. The building is no longer present at the site but a concrete marker commemorates it.

Among the teachers of Wassewa School were Mr. Carruthers (1888-1889), William Finley (1890), Miss May Ross (1891), Robert Godwin (1892), Henry Johnson (1893), Miss Morrison (1893), Miss Morrison (1894), Miss Christie (1895), Miss Janet Stewart (1896), R. J. Broadworth (1897-1898), Miss Bertie McKnight (1899-1900, 1901), John McKay (1900), Miss Sadie Lynch (1902), Miss Dirlie Coulter (1903), Bruce Kilbourn (1903), Miss Winnie Johnson (1904), Mr. Bowley (1905), Miss Edith Brondgeest (1906), Miss Campbell (1907-1908), Miss Belle Maguire (1915), Miss Louise Frith (1916), Miss Isabel Cummings (1917), Miss Elvira Collins (1918-1919), E. Turner (1919), Miss Clara Haskin (1919-1920), Miss Doris McFee (1920-1921), Miss Clara Haskin (1921-1923), Miss Florence Hammond (1923-1924), Miss Willa Coubrough (1924), Miss Jessie Smith (1924-1925), Miss Jessie Smith (1925-1926), Miss Eva Greenlay (1926-1928), Miss Agnes Church (1928-1929), Miss Grace Dunning (1925-1935), Miss Margaret Moore (1935-1937), Miss Mae Carritt (1937-1939), Miss Edna Spafford (1939-1941), Mrs. E. V. McKinney, Miss Vona DeWitt (1940, 1941-1942), Miss Emily Holditch (1942-1944), Miss Eleanor Patterson (1944-1945), Miss Bernice Jackson (1945), Miss Ina Kempthorne (1946), Miss Dorothy McShane (1946), Miss Ruth McCaffrey (1947), Miss Mabel Mitchell (1947), Miss Ilene Simpson (1947), Mrs. Eileen Brake (1948), Miss Susie Fast (1948-1949), Miss Peggy Horobin (1949-1950), Miss Edith Dougall (1950-1951), Miss Margaret Warkentin (1951-1952), Miss Beatrice Venables (1952-1954), Miss Shirley Armstrong (1954-1955), Miss Avis Andrew (1955-1956), Miss Lila Garrett (1956-1957), Miss Sheila Fargey (1957-1958), Mike Storoschuk (1958-1960), Miss Leone Plunkett (1960-1962), Miss Carol Glenn (1962-1964), Miss Eleanor Lovatt (1964-1965), and Miss Gail Jones (1965-1967).

Wassewa School (no date) by George Hunter Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 97. The former Wassewa School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 760. The former Wassewa School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 763. Wassewa School commemorative monument (September 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.14680, W100.18688 denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

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.

Beckoning Hills Revisited: Ours is a Goodly Heritage, Morton-Boissevain, 1881-1981 by Boissevain History Committee, c1981, page 186.

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 Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 February 2021

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