Historic Sites of Manitoba: Wheatfield School No. 954 (RM of Yellowhead)

The Wheatfield School District was established formally in May 1898. The following year, a piece of land was purchased from J. E. Morgan for $10 at NW18-18-23W in what is now the Rural Municipality of Yellowhead. A school building was designed by W. Taylor and both built and furnished at a cost just under $700 by James D. Smith and James C. McDonald of Shoal Lake. It operated at this site from 1899 to late 1958 when it was consolidated with Oakburn Consolidated School No. 255. The area became part of the Pelly Trail School Division. The building was sold at auction in 1959 but it is commemorated by a stone monument, erected in July 1977, and a wooden sign at the original site.

Among the teachers who worked at Wheatfield School through the years were John Bruce McLeod Jr (1899), Miss Clark (1901), Robert M. Morgan (1902), Mary Flounter? (1903), Richard Collin? (1903), Miss Hamilton (1905), Miss Hicks (1905), Miss Snell (1905), Miss Lee (1906), Miss Calder (1906), Florence Ruth Nicholson (1906), Miss Winstone (1907-1908), W. Bowley (1909), Miss M. E. Storey (1909), Ella M. Stewart (1909-1910), Miss L. M. Lowe (1911-1912), Ed Snyder (1913), Miss McDonalod (1913-1914), Miss Burgess (1914-1916), Miss E. Fisher (1916), Mrs. M. Nixon (1916-1917), Miss McEachern (1917), Miss Andrews (1918), Miss C. Short (1918), Miss Peden (1918-1919), Florence McKinnon [MacKinnon] (1920-1921), Thelma Thorton (1932-1935), Eileen Muriel Whyte (1936-1937), Phoebe Muriel Belcher (1938-1939), Natalie Lorraine Glushka (1951-1952), and Roxie Marie Lazaruk (1954-1955).

Dedication of the Wheatfield School monument beside a spruce tree planted by students in the schoolyard (July 1977) Source: Malcolm Bell The Wheatfield School monument site, by which time the large spruce tree formerly had the site had been cut down (no date) Source: Malcolm Bell Wheatfield School commemorative monument (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.54514, W100.64599 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Wheatfield Church and Burial Site (RM of Yellowhead)

Sources:

Echoes: Oakburn, Manitoba, 1870- 1970 by Oakburn Centennial Committee. Oakburn: The Committee, 1970.

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 Way It Was! by Matthew Halliday, Dauphin, 1982. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5648.S46 Hal]

Ripples On The Lake: A History of Shoal Lake Municipality, 1884-1984 by Shoal Lake History Book Committee, 1984.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Olha School District No. 1243 Daily Registers, GR2061, Archives of Manitoba.

Manitoba School Records Collection, Olha School District No. 1243 Account Book, GR2061, Archives of Manitoba.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough, Malcolm Bell, and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 13 February 2021

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