St. Charles School
PART 1 The two room school house was to cost $25 000. The building of the school encountered some problems along the way. As of October 24th 1921 the school remaind unfinished. The $30 000 raised to fund the school was expended. It was estimated that the remaining work, which was mainly plastering, was going to need an additional $6-$10 000. These additional monies were going to be raised by either a second bylaw or by borrowing money from some citizens of the area. These financial difficulties resulted in the resignation of school trustees R. S. Irwin (Chairman), J.A. Barker and J. J. Gagnon after a meeting with the area ratepayers (WET, 1921/10/24). On December 15th 1921 at 8pm the new St. Charles School officially opened. Several short addresses given by various dignitaries which was then followed by a dance. Earlier in the day 150 children were treated to a Christmas party and all were given gifts (WET, 1921/12/15). While the school did not "officially" open until December, it had opened for classes in September. In January 1922, to help alleviate the financial difficulties of the school the school district sold $20 000 worth of debentures with the approval of the provincial treasury department. These 20 year bonds had a seven percent yield and were sold to the Bond and Debenture Company. The money went to completing the school and paying off its debts (WET, 1922/1/14). In February 1922 a new school board was elected by acclamation. The new board consisted of V.C. Maddock (as interim chairman) with councilors Joseph Catchat and Peter Brown. K.V.J. Cray was appointed secretary-treasurer, while the appointment of an auditor was deferred (WET, 1922/2/18). On March 3rd 1922 the first board meeting of St. Charles School was held and J. Catchat was chosen as chairman of the board. The board also decided that all future board meetings would be held on the last Wednesday of each month (WET, 1922/3/2). In addition to serving the area as a school St. Charles School also served many other purposes when school was out. For example, it also functioned as the meeting place for the new St. Charles Community Club which was also formed on March 2nd 1922 replacing the Ward 2 Ratepayers' Association (WET, 1922/3/2). While on Sunday afternoon there were church services given by the Methodist Church (WET, 1921/12/28). And during election times it served as a polling station (WET, 1921/11/22). All in all it served the community in many different functions. |
NOTE: WET = Winnipeg Evening Tribune. I have not been able to get any information from the St James-Assiniboia School Division which seems to treat historical records as their own private archives even though publicly funded.
