Little Schools in the Parkland

PORTER LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT No.4311

  1. Porter Lake School was situated on the NE ¼ 13-44-3 W4. The school
  2. got its name from a lake on the same land which was named after a Mr.
  3. Porter who lived in a small house near the lake. The school was built in
  4. 1928 by Oliver Jardine and opened in November, 1928. The first teacher
  5. was Miss Sager (Bazley) with a roll-call of 17 increasing to 21 in April of
  6. 1929. This was a more modern school than most in that area with inside
  7. toilets in the basement.
  8.  
  9. Some of the teachers that followed were: Mary Hill, Gladys Mills, Lillian
  10. Pitman, Grace Burton, Beth Reinhart, Inez Snyder (White), Everett White,
  11. Evelyn Ford, Helen Badiuk, Marg Clifford, Jeanette Heffern, Mrs. Roach, Bob
  12. Stone, Myrtle Nicholson, Mrs. Alma Enger. Mr. E. Spencer was the first
  13. secretary, Frank Moran, chairman and Bill Marshal and Joe Wehenkel first
  14. trustees.
  15.  
  16. In 1952 progress reached our little country schoolhouse and after many
  17. meetings the powers that be closed the school, some students going to
  18. Edgerton others to Ribstone. The last roll call was: Jim and Joey Frazer,
  19. Frances Oleson, Vivian and Vera Boomhower, Grace Sayer and Mrs. Alma
  20. Enger as teacher. That last year, Mrs. Enger took all the students on a tour
  21. of Edmonton, some going by bus and others in her car, over roads deep in
  22. mud where construction was going on, no small accomplishment. What a
  23. wonderful day for country children!
  24.  
  25. Porter Lake was one of the better schools in the area with its indoor
  26. toilets, which were greatly enjoyed, until one day the boys dropped a rock
  27. into the bowl destroying it. After that, they had to run out to the “wee
  28. house.”
  29.  
  30. During the years the school was not only a place of learning but also the
  31. centre of social activities, and, most important, the school concert.
  32. Everyone turned out to see the students act out their plays, songs and
  33. drills. Much praise is due to these teachers and the event is sadly missed
  34. by many.
  35.  
  36. The school term ended with the June picnic in 1952. The Porter Lake
  37. community ended up buying the school, using it for dances, bingos,
  38. suppers, and whist drives, real family affairs.
  39.  
  40. Some School Daze of Remembrance:
  41. - drowning gophers in the school yard
  42. - eating dinner sitting on the rafters of the barn
  43. - fighting fire behind the barn
  44. - Frances riding “Nigger”
  45. - smoking cigarettes made with leaves
  46. - making a hole in the wall between the girls’ and boys’ cloakrooms.
  47. - scaring teacher’s horse
  48. - teacher being snowed in for three days
  49. - not enough room in the barn for the horses
  50. - sitting in the corner with a dunce’s cap on
  51. - putting a dead gopher on teacher’s desk
  52.  
  53. Porter Lake School still stands but is seldom used any more.

Porter Lake School District No. 4311
Submitted by Emmy Nysetvold

105-106