Historic Sites of Manitoba: Basswood Consolidated School No. 1252 (Basswood, RM of Oakview)
The Basswood Consolidated School District was established in the community of Basswood, in what is now the Rural Municipality of Oakview, in 1915. The following year, after school trustees had toured Strathclair School, they approved construction of a two-storey brick veneer building, designed by Winnipeg architect Frank R. Evans and built by contractor Worswick Brothers of Winnipeg.
Other nearby rural schools closed, including Fairmount School No. 201, Rosemount School No. 319, and Winterton School No. 716, and their students were brought here. Over time, students from other rural schools that were closed came here, including those from McBride School No. 558 (1964). The school closed in June 1969 and the building was later demolished.
At the site of the former school is a commemorative monument, erected in 1983 for the centenary of the municipality, and a small brick replica.
The teachers who worked at Basswood School prior to consolidation in 1916 included Frances McGill (1904), Joseph Knight (1905), James Robertson (1905-1911), Anna Watt (1911), Winnifred Bloomer (1911-1912), Laura Dewar (1912-1913), Jean McLaren (1913-1914), Astellia Harrison (1914-1915), Norman Brett (1915-1916), Gladys Hamilton (1915-1916), Flora Sexsmith (1916), Christena Thompson (1916), and Henry Arthur Lye.
The teachers of Basswood Consolidated School from 1916 to 1969 were as follows: Euphemia McKinnon (1916-1917), Vera May Babb (1916-1920), Margaret M. Scott (1917), Myrtle I. Graham (1916), Eileen M. Ritchie (1917-1919), Maurice Sauger (1917), Alban R. Tufts (1918), Islay A. McIntyre (1918-1920), C. E. Ashley (1920-1922), Katherine C. Averill (1919-1924), Minnie J. Young (1920-1923), Katherine King (1922-1924), Kathleen Kelly (1923-1925), Pearl A. Brown (1925), Mabel M. Buchanan (1924-1925), G. Gwendolen Ewens (1925-1927), Mildred S. Williams (1925-1926), Gladys McGregor (1925-1928), Thomas P. King (1925-1926), Isabel Lee (1926-1927), C. Armenah Powell (1927-1928), Hazel Parker (1927-1928), Wilma Vinnell (1928), Gladys Thompson (1929-1930), Myrtle McArthur (1928-1929), Mabel E. Fisher (1928), Esme W. White (1929), George W. King (1928), Bertha Boles (1929-1937), Mary L. Snyder (1929), Lottie Dotten (1930), Margaret J. Moore (1930-1931), Myrtle E. Fines (1931-1932), Agnes Lavery (1931-1932), Mary H. Brown (1932-1934), Leona Fallis Jackson (1932-1940, 1943), Margaret J. Buick (1934-1939), Ruby Amy (1937-1940), Ruth Roper (1939-1942), Georgina McConnell (1940-1942), Evelyn G. Davidson (1940-1942), Marguerite Coutts (1942-1947), Louise Thornton (1942), Ina Beattie (1942), Jean Gray (1943), Willa Harvey (1942-1943), Audrey A. Young (1943), Annie M. Murray (1944), Albert B. Diamond (1943-1944), Rhoda M. Small (1943-1944), Olive Milne Templeton (1944-1949), Dorothy Wherritt (1943-1945), B. F. Olson (1944), Mrs. C. E. McEachern (1946-1949), Leona Marks (1947-1948), Ila G. Chisholm McNabb (1949-1952), Anita Cox (1949-1950), Elsie Huhtala Jackson (1951-1952), Mary Byskal (1950-1952), Mary Juce (1952-1954), Orest Fedak (1952-1954), Esther Sjovold Reid (1954-1957), Pearl Podruski (1954-1956), Margaret Scheer (1954-1955), Margaret Coutts (1955-1956), Annie E. Lawson (1956-1957), Catherine Lochhead (1956-1958, 1968-1969), Edna Buchanan (1957-1963), Margaret E. Graham Curwen (1957-1959), Violet Switzer (1958-1963), Harold Lyle Severson (1959-1960), John Spak (1962-1964), Leona Campbell (1963-1964), Beverly Jackson (1963-1964), Vivianne Riddell (1964-1966), June Robinson (1964-1967), Mr. C. R. Lockhart (1964-1965), Paul H. Rudiak (1965-1966), and Heather Mandzuk (1966-1967).
Other teachers whose period of tenure at Basswood is unconfirmed were as follows: Miss D. E. Heap, Miss C. E. Ashby, Mary H. Speirs, Mr. R. V. Currie, Laura Woods, Frank Olsen, William Fraser, Miss Davidson, Mrs. Shier, Enid Butler, Peggy Graham, Miss J. Howard, Bernice Smith, Miss M. B. Marynuik, Miss D. Lindsay, Karen McKnight, Miss A. L. Mikymetz, Mr. C. Nicholson, Bob Lepischuk, and Mrs. M. Templeton.
Photos & Maps
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
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.
Basswood, 1878-1978: A Century of Living by Basswood and District Historical Book Society, 1980. [Manitoba Legislative Library, F5649.B38 Bas]
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
Page revised: 27 September 2017
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