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Readers of The ATA Magazine are asked to help with the establishment of a visual archive of the province’s early country schools. Many of these historic buildings are abandoned and deteriorating. Before time, neglect and the elements claim them completely, it is hoped that a photographic record can be compiled.
You can help
Let us know the whereabouts of these buildings. All that is required is a simple description using highway numbers referenced to a nearby village or range road and township coordinates.
Tell us what you know about the buildings (school names, current uses, original locations, if they have been moved, and their history).
If possible, provide a photograph. Photos can be print film or electronic.
Send information to Raymond Gariepy, Associate Editor, The ATA Magazine, by post, telephone or e-mail (raymond.gariepy@ata.ab.ca).
Bellis School District No. 3185
The school, built in 1914, is located on the north side of Highway 28.
—Lynn Yackimec, Lac La Biche
Outlet School District No. 599
The school opened north of Bentley, near Gull Lake, in 1901. After it closed in 1949, the building was remodelled as a home for Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Skeels.
—Jim Speakman
Hermit Lake School District No. 3250
The schoolhouse, originally located near Hermit Lake, west of Grande Prairie, was built in 1916. In 1956, the school closed and was used as a community hall. In 1976, the building was moved to the Grande Prairie Museum Heritage Village.
—W. Johnson, Grande Prairie
Bellerose School District No. 25
The first Bellerose School (formerly called Bellerose Roman Catholic Public No. 6) was built in 1885 on the farm of Octave Bellerose on the Sturgeon River (northeast of Hole’s Greenhouses, St. Albert). The school is now located at Fort Edmonton Park, in Edmonton.
—Linda Schwam, St. Albert
