La Verendrye School
290 Lilac St.

Sat May 22 2004

By Reid Dickie

YOU have to imagine Winnipeg in its boomtown days, 1900 to 1920. The population grew by thousands every month. Immigrants from all over the world converged here. In two decades of bustle that changed a floodplain into a city, 40 schools were built to educate all those new Canadian children.

One of Winnipeg's grand old schools from the boomtown era is La Verendrye School. Though residential and business areas quickly grew up around it, when it opened in 1909, La Verendrye was on the outskirts of the city.

On the school's cornerstone laying, the Manitoba Free Press reported, "Nearby dwellings are hidden in areas of native bush."

Centred perfectly between Jessie and Warsaw on Lilac Street, the school's location takes full advantage of having an empty square block without competing buildings. Based on a design by chief school architect J.B. Mitchell and constructed of local materials, La Verendrye School is a commingling of Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Neo-Georgian architectural styles. Its exterior is dun-coloured brick with Tyndall stone trim set on a raised limestone foundation. The cut stone balustrade and pilaster features of the entrance porch enhance its style.

Mitchell's objectives were student safety and adequate natural lighting. The corridors are wide with plenty of exits, and large windows flood the classrooms with light. Though not the originals, the façade features leaded stained glass windows.

Most of the rooms still have original pressed tin ceilings. The initial cost to construct the school was about $81,000. Operated as a high school for two years, La Verendrye became an elementary school to handle the overflow from Fort Rouge School. Today, La Verendrye is the oldest school in the division continuously used for students.

The gym was added onto the south side in 1964, a benefit to students that unfortunately precluded the building from being named a heritage site. In the late 1980s, the school was saved from demolition by an area parents' group.

Named after early Quebec explorer, Pierre Gaultier de Verennes, La Verendrye School is one of a handful of early schools not named after stalwarts of the British Empire. Since 1983, the school has offered French immersion classes for nursery to Grade 6 students. Today almost 200 students attend École La Verendrye, the only elementary French immersion milieu school in south Winnipeg.

The centennial of La Verendrye School occurs in 2009.

To prepare, the school is involved in a major history project. They are setting up a historical classroom, as it would have appeared in the early 1900s, complete with teaching aids of the era.

Former alumni are sharing memories and stories about their La Verendrye days. If this is your old school and you'd like to volunteer or contribute to the centennial activities, the staff encourages you to get in touch.

This Old School is an itinerant look at some of the city's places of learning by Winnipeg writer Reid Dickie.

Reprinted with the permission of the Winnipeg Free Press.