Riverland School

The Riverland School, located on Riverland road, was built in 1924, to meet the educational needs of the children in the expanding Riverland district. School age children, mostly from Swedish families, had attended a one room school at School Point. This small log structure had met the educational needs since 1910 but, after fourteen years, had out grown its student enrolment.

The Riverland School, a new and larger one-room school of lumber construction, was built on land donated by Gus Anderson. He had arrived four years earlier from Sweden to take up an 80 acre “Homestead” in the Riverland District.

Over the years enrolment was as high as 64 students from grades one to eight. As most of the children spoke Swedish they were required to learn English in school. Grade nine was by Provincial Dept. of Education Correspondence and the students had to attend the school to take the course. If a student wanted to receive higher education he or she had to attend the school in Lac du Bonnet.

The local Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee has recommended that the Riverland School be declared a Municipal Heritage Site and the RM of Lac du Bonnet Council is in the process of finalizing an agreement with Terri Veroneau, the present owner. With the passage of the necessary by-law, steps will be taken this summer to stabilize any further deterioration. Future plans will consider the full restoration of the building.

It is Terri’s wish that the Riverland School building will be declared a Heritage Site. With her cooperation and generosity, this school, the last of its kind in the RM, will not disappear from our memory. It will remain her legacy to the Riverland community and a reminder to future generations what an important roll the Riverland School played in the early education of our children.