Our extensive records show a history of schools in Medicine hat and the surrounding areas. From rural one-room schoolhouses from years ago, to the present day schools that educate the children of our communities today, we’re proud to offer this insight into our history.
Schools of Medicine Hat and District
Written and researched by Clarence Janke
Prologue
It is my purpose for this Web-Page to list first the present day Schools which are mainly in the City of Medicine Hat as well as in other Towns and Villages of this Area. This listing will include the Name of the School, The Address of the School as well as the Telephone Numbers of these Schools if they are available. Will also list the City, Town, Village in which the specific School is located. I am mostly depending on the Telephone Directories of the area to give me this information.
For the Schools of Medicine Hat as well as of Redcliff of the Earlier Days for which I am doing a Listing, I am relying on the Records of the Hendersons Directories to help me with this. In this Listing I have researched the pages of these Directories for the Years beginning in 1917 (my first available issue) and at approximate ten year intervals until 1990, I believe this gives an accurate Summation and should miss very few. There will be name changes and address changes as can be expected but the overall should be quite complete. For this Listing, I include only the Name of the School as well as the original Street Address and where available, the Present Street Address.
For the Schools of the Rural Areas of these Earlier Days, I am relying on the History Books of each area to help me with this. I have also been fortunate to be able to obtain through the Alberta Histories Society, a Book, “Pioneering With A Piece Of Chalk- The One-Room Country Schools Of Alberta 1885- 1982” written by Dr. William Peter Baergen, himself a former teacher in these schools. Much Credit must be given to Dr. Baergen for this excellent Reference Book to the One-Room Country Schools of Alberta which were a part of all of our lives of days gone by. An extreme amount of Research by Dr. Baergen went into writing this book and has certainly made my work on this project much simpler. My copy of this Book will be donated to the Medicine Hat Genealogical Society after I have completed this project and should give a marvellous Reference for many years to come. Besides this book, I will also be using the Hendersons Directories for listings of the earlier schools in the City, Towns, Villages, etc. For the country schools I hope to list the year it was opened as well as the Land Location as well as any subsequent name changes of which there are many.