Historic Sites of Manitoba: White Poplar School No. 1877 (RM of Brokenhead)

The White Poplar School District was organized formally in April 1917 and a school building operated on the southeast quarter of 27-14-7 east of the Principal Meridian, in the Rural Municipality of Brokenhead. The school closed in 1967 but, as of 2012, the building was still present at the site along with its teacherage.

Among the teachers of White Poplar School were Mrs. A. E. Baldwin (1920, grades 1-5), May Modrzejewski? (grades 1-5, 1921), Alice Hamilton (1925, grades 1-5), Della Baker (1926, grades 1-5), Teenie Evelyn Kozier Kozyra (1926-1933), Minnie Agnes Cooper (1933-1938), Rudolph Pitzek (1938-1939), Joseph H. Basarabowicz (1939-1941), Nellie C. Rowe (1941), Stephen David Bahry (1942, 1943-1946), Mary Edeline Kondratuk (1942-1943), Alice Kalinovich (1946-1947), William Harry “Bill” Kozyra (1948-1952), Laura Johanna Thorarinson Armstrong (1952-1953), Maurice John Shisarchuk (1953-1954), Stella Bridget Kozyniak (1954-1955), Lena Catherine Basiuk (1955-1958), Mary A. Schewe (1958-1960, 1961-1962), Helen Marie Nyznyk (1960-1961), Myrtle Feniuk (1962-1963), Elsie Masquin (1963-1964, 1966-1967), Ken Hlady (1964-1965), and William J. Sianchuk (1965-1966).

White Poplar School (no date) by J. E. S. Dunlop Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs, GR8461, A0233, C131-3, page 48. The former White Poplar School building (circa 1986) Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 202. The former White Poplar School building (March 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The former White Poplar School building (June 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina White Poplar school teacherage (March 2012) Source: Gordon Goldsborough White Poplar school teacherage (June 2019) Source: Rose Kuzina Site Coordinates (lat/long): N50.21315, W96.54350 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.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

Obituary [Laura Johanna Gudrun Thorarinson Armstrong], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 September 2013.

Manitoba School Records Collection, White Poplar School District No. 1877 Daily Registers, GR9480, Archives of Manitoba.

We thank Rose Kuzina for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough and Nathan Kramer.

Page revised: 29 December 2021

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