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The Wentworth School District was organized formally in August 1915. A year later, in August 1916, the district took out a $10,000 debenture to pay for a schoolhouse. Late that year, work began on a two-storey, two-classroom brick school building was erected on a design by Winnipeg architect Eldred Dodsworth Tuttle, on the southeast quarter of 26-11-2 east of the Principal Meridian in the Rural Municipality of Rosser (a site now within the City of Winnipeg). During construction of the building, a bricklayer was killed when a brick wall collapsed, a result attributed by the architect to the contractor’s poor workmanship. At the time, further construction deviations from the blueprints were identified. In August 1917, a further $5,500 debenture was issued to finance remaining construction work and finish furnishing the school. Electrical lighting was added to the facility in 1948.
In 1958, Wentworth became part of the Rosser Municipal School District No. 2356. In April 1963, ownership of the land and building were transferred to the Winnipeg School Division and the school closed upon completion of the 1962-1963 school year. The building was demolished in July 1963. (During demolition, the wreckers mistakenly began to tear down the nearby vacant Woodsworth School building belonging to the Brooklands School District.)
Period
Principal
1917
Richard Ellice [Ellis] Brown (1846-1918)
1918
Maurice Sanger
1918-1919
Annie Elizabeth Mills (c1882-1959)
1919-1924
Mary Ann MacKenzie Cockett (c1884-?)
1924-1925
Harold Arthur Whitfield (1876-1951)
1925-1928
Emily Margaret Cox
1928-1935
Caroline Irene McLeod Queen (1906-1993)
1935-1936
Louise Amelia Neilson MacKillop (1898-1987)
1936-1959
None
1959-1960
William Kowalchuk
1960-1962
Marie Isabel Cosens
1962-1963
Robert L. Krysko
Period
Teachers
1915-1916
Marion A. Buckley [Brickley?] (all grades, Fall 1915), Margaret S. Mathews (all grades, Spring 1916)
1916-1917
Richard E. Brown (all grades)
1917-1918
Richard E. Brown (grades 4-8, September-December), John R. Maills [Mills?] (grades 1-3), Maurice Sanger (grades 4-8, January-June)
1918-1919
Myra W. C. Atkinson (grades 1-3), Annie Elizabeth Mills (grades 4-9)
1919-1920
Myra W. C. Atkinson (grades 1-3), Mary A. MacKenzie (grades 4-8)
1920-1921
Myra W. C. Atkinson (grades 1-3), Mary A. MacKenzie (grades 4-8)
1921-1922
Myra W. C. Atkinson (grades 1-3), Mary A. MacKenzie (grades 4-8)
1922-1923
Myra W. C. Atkinson (grades 1-3), Mary A. MacKenzie (grades 4-8)
1923-1924
Myra W. C. Atkinson (grades 1-4), Mary A. MacKenzie (grades 4-8)
1924-1925
Mary Jane Parkins (grades 1-3), Harold Arthur Whitfield (grades 4-9)
1925-1926
Annie Mabel Beldon (grades 1-3, 1925), Emily Margaret Cox (grades 4-7), Marguerite Tod (grades 1-3, 1926)
1926-1927
Emily Margaret Cox (grades 4-8), Marguerite Tod (grades 1-3)
1927-1928
Emily Margaret Cox (grades 4-8), Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 1-3)
1928-1929
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 4-8), Louise Neilson (grades 1-3)
1929-1930
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 4-8), Louise Neilson (grades 1-3)
1930-1931
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 4-8), Louise Neilson (grades 1-3)
1931-1932
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 4-8), Louise Neilson (grades 1-3)
1932-1933
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 5-8), Louise Neilson (grades 1-4)
1933-1934
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 5-8), Louise Neilson (grades 1-4)
1934-1935
Caroline Irene McLeod (grades 5-9), Louise Neilson (grades 1-4)
1935-1936
Louise Neilson (grades 5-9), Beatrice May Williams (grades 1-4)
1936-1959
See below
1959-1960
William Kowalchuk (grades 5-8), Kay Ann Karalash Snatenchuk (grades 1-4)
1960-1961
Marie Isabel Cosens (grades 5-8), Kay Ann Karalash Snatenchuk (grades 1-4)
1961-1962
Marie Isabel Cosens (grades 5-8), Kay Ann Karalash Snatenchuk (grades 1-4)
1962-1963
Robert L. Krysko (grades 5-8), Kay Ann Karalash Snatenchuk (grades 1-4)
From the fall of 1936 through the spring of 1959, the school was a single-teacher operation; its staff including Louise Neilson (Fall 1936), William Gudjon Johnson (Spring 1937 - Spring 1942), Elizabeth Elsie Swan (Fall 1942 - Spring 1943), David A. Brown (Fall 1943), Margaret Cynthia Heming (Spring 1944 - Spring 1945), Miss C. Flemming (c1945), George Wesley Bartlett (Fall 1945), David Alexander Wesley Brown (Spring 1946), Lena Quiring (Fall 1946 - Spring 1948), Grace Emily Stevens (Fall 1948 - Spring 1949), Mrs. Leah Bourke (Fall 1949 - Spring 1951), Alvin Bartley Campbell (Fall 1950 - Spring 1951), Damaris Baggaley Robinson (Fall 1951 - Spring 1953), Mary Evelyn Mazur (Fall 1953 - Spring 1957), and Mrs. Kay Ann Karalash Snatenchuk (Fall 1958 - Spring 1959).
Wentworth School (no date) by E. D. Parker
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 38.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.95018, W97.20765
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Eldred Dodsworth Tuttle (1878-1965)
“Tenders for Wentworth School,” Winnipeg Tribune, 15 September 1916, page 2.
“Killed in fall from scaffold,” Manitoba Free Press, 1 December 1916, page 11.
“School building walls unsafe, is experts’ charge,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 2 December 1916, page 6.
“Walls collapse to be probed by school officials,” Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 4 December 1916, page 1.
“Public notice [Department of Public Works],” Manitoba Free Press, 29 December 1916, page 2.
“Inquiry into collapse Wentworth School,” Manitoba Free Press, 4 January 1917, page 27.
“Whoops - Pardon my sledge-hammer,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 July 1963, page 3.
Cummin’s Rural Directory Map for Manitoba published by the Cummins Map Company, 404 Chambers of Commerce, Winnipeg, 1923. [Copies held by Edward M. Ledohowski and Gordon Goldsborough]
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #9 School District of Wentworth, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
Corporate Security registered documents (ATG 0089), #47 School District of Wentworth, GR12576, Archives of Manitoba.
Orders-In-Council (EC 0003B), Order-In-Council No. 27013, GR1530, Archives of Manitoba.
School division and school district formation files (E 0027), Wentworth School District No. 1801, GR1688, Archives of Manitoba.
School division half-yearly attendance reports (E 0757), Archives of Manitoba.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Wentworth School District No. 1801 Minute Book, GR2043, Archives of Manitoba.
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.
The First Hundred Years, 1893-1993 by the Rosser Municipality Centennial History Book Committee, page 103.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 22 February 2023
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