Lac du Bonnet District Museum
# 782 - PR 502 Hwy. R 0 E 1A0 Lac du Bonnet, MB, Canada

LAC DU BONNET SCHOOL #1235 cont'd The three room school proved to be sufficient for a number of years, however in time it became overcrowded. ... Highlights from William Duncan Halliday, Secretary Treasurer's Ledgers : Feb.13, 1930 W.D.Halliday requests plans from Dept. of Education for a new 4 room stucco school building ( Parfitt design) with basement. Sept.23, 1930 Five quotes for new school are received and Carl Jonasson of 950 Dominion Street in Winnipeg is awarded the contract for $7300.00 substantially less expensive than the 4 local bids. April 11, 1931 the old school buildings are sold to H.G. Park for $175.00 to be moved off the property August 12, 1931 tender for 4 foot wide concrete sidewalk awarded to C.W.Park for $133.00 July 13, 1933 it is moved to construct a cesspool on school grounds for disposal of sewage tanks. The school contracts thirty cords of wood per season through 1937 for the wood boiler at prices between $3.50 and $5.25 per cord. July 19, 1937 The school is overcrowded and discussions take place about another school building From 1939 thru 1941 rent of $9.00 per month was paid to the Riverland Penticostal Mission Swedish Church for teaching space due to overcrowding at Lac du Bonnet School. February 24, 1945, Parfitts school burns down and classes are split up in the Pentacostal church, St.John’s Anglican Church and the R.M. Offices for 2 years until the new school is completed that eventually became to be known as Park Avenue School. This school was demolished to make way for apartments which have now been converted into condos on the old school site.(Fourth and Park) The Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society is looking for photos of the former Crescent Bay School #2259 and Overwater School #2349. If any photos exist please contact us at [email protected]

LAC DU BONNET ST. JOHN’S CHURCH BELL Work on the St. John’s Belfry by Marc Jenvenne led to a closer inspection of the original church bell. Marc photographed the inscribed letters on the bell frame The C.S. Bell Co. 30 Hillsboro, O.... The church bell was made by The Charles Singleton Bell Company Hillsboro, Ohio, USA. Charles Singleton Bell (1829-1905) a Scotsman, discovered after many failures that his steel alloy could be pitched to create a very mellow tone. It was this tone and durability that made his bells famous throughout the world. By 1892 the C.S. Bell Co. was producing 2000 tons of bells yearly and Hillsboro Ohio became famous for the production of steel alloy bells until 1970. Bells were made in 15 sizes with diameters of 12 thru to 48 in 2 inch increments. Incredibly a 54 diameter bell has been recorded. Specifically church and firehall alarm bells ran from 30 48 in diameter. The St. John’s Bell is 30 diameter and still has that same mellow ring since it was hung. Shown are photos of the finished Upper Belfry restoration. Make note of the reconstructed architectural cornice which has been missing for over 50 years.

Came across a few interesting photos in our archives donated by Jaclyn Douglas. We wanted to share on Facebook today as people are looking back in recognition. In 1909, a Canadian military training camp named "Camp Sewell" was established 10 kilometers west of Carberry, south of the Canadian Pacific Railway line. It started out as a city of tents and covered a large area. The name of the camp was changed in 1915 to "Camp Hughes" in honor of Major-General Sir Sam Hughes, Cana...da's Minister of Militia and Defense at the time. Extensive trench systems, grenade and rifle ranges, and military structures were built at Camp Hughes between 1915 and 1916, and a variety of retail stores and entertainment complexes on a double-avenued area close to the main camp formed a lively commercial midway. During World War I, more than 38,000 troops of the Canadian Expeditionary Force trained at the camp, and by 1916 it had grown to such a large size that it had the largest population of any city in the province of Manitoba outside of the capital city, Winnipeg. Many of the soldiers who trained at Camp Hughes were later involved in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in France on April 9, 1917. The Canadian Army continued to train soldiers at the camp until 1934, when the camp closed and the troops were moved to nearby Camp Shilo. By the early 1960s, the site re-opened as a Cold War remote transmitter station for Camp Shilo. A one-level bunker was built on the property. The bunker was closed in 1992 and has since been demolished. See more

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, a Canadian who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men. It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that nigh...t in darkness, in the little cemetery outside McCrae’s dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain. The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l’Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry. In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook. A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. His face was very tired but calm as he wrote, Allinson recalled. He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer’s grave. When McCrae finished five minutes later, and showing dissatisfaction, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915. The Poem went on to become hugely popular with the public, and has since become an abiding symbol of remembrance worldwide. See more

Lac du Bonnet & District Historical Society Archives contain donated Lac du Bonnet School #1235 ledgers which belonged to its long time Secretary Treasurer William Duncan Halliday. Here are some highlights: March 7, 1904 - the first meeting was held to form Lac du Bonnet School District #1235 at the home of Mr. Cleophus Bernard with 10 people attending. Thomas Houston was chair, Louis Bruneau & Alex Spence were trustees, Rev. J. E. S. Thibandeau was secretary, and Alex Isbis...ter was evaluator. July 9, 1904 It was decided instead of borrowing money that they raise money by voluntary contribution and school taxes levied in the district. July 10, 1904 Alex Isbister was awarded a contract of $45 to supply logs for the building of the school. July 19, 1904 William Duncan Halliday is appointed Secretary Treasurer of Lac du Bonnet School District #1235. July 25, 1904 Contract to built the log one room school house is awarded to Thomas Houston for $150 at the corner of Park Avenue and 4th Street on land donated by John Duncan McArthur. Thomas Houston would also go on to build the St. John's Anglican Church in 1906 just up the Street which still stands today! October 22, 1904 Miss Sarah McDougall is hired as the first school teacher at $40 per month. December 3, 1904 Lac du Bonnet first school tax notices are given to property owners. June 24, 1911 George Park is awarded a contract to fence the school grounds for $30. May 23, 1914 By Law # 3 is passed to borrow $1400 to build a two room addition onto to the school. June 1915 the school addition tender is awarded to S. Dorian for $840 Lac du Bonnet School #1235 becomes a three room school See more

Halloween was a far different holiday than today; no big box stores, just the five and dime and Woolworth’s. The big scares for the night were pushing over someone’s outhouse, stealing a melon or two and running through the neighborhood in large packs of mixed age groups. One would go with friends but would all be towing a younger sibling or two. Pillow cases were the treat bag of choice and parents never went with the children. Decorations were carved pumpkins and sheets ha...nging from trees. There were no moving monsters and skeletons which screeched when one walked by. There was just the occasional dad or teen hiding in the bushes to jump out and scare the day lights out of you. Our costumes would be ooed and awed over. For the most part children were ghosts, witches, gypsies, brides, princesses, scarecrows, super heroes and an occasional Dracula or mummy in a bed sheet. Costumes were pretty simple compared to today standards. See more

Norma Elizabeth Hawkins was born in Winnipeg. Norma first came to Lac du Bonnet in 1930 to visit the Louis Gaudry Family, owners / operators of the Travellers Hotel. Her father Fredrick Hawkins was an avid hunter and visits to Lac du Bonnet were frequented during hunting season. In 1937, Norma married John Alexander Halliday in Winnipeg and in 1938 they took over the Halliday Homestead 3 miles north of Lac du Bonnet and raised a family .