ROROS SCHOOL DISTRICT No.2193

1. Some pioneers of the Chauvin district arrived as early as 1905 and took up
2. homesteads in the area which lay just south of the Battle River and along
3. the Ribstone Creek. No school district had, as yet, been formed, but the
4. settlers realized the need for the education of their children. In the
5. summer of 1909, a few families got together and financed a temporary
6. school in a borrowed granary with Miss Clara Bratvold (Mrs. John Johnson)
7. as teacher. The first pupils were Marvil Reitan; Tillie Anderson; Oline
8. Sorken; Mary and Anton Nysetvold; Paul, Anders and Oscar Reitan. In 1910,
9. a school district was formed. Since many of the homesteaders originally
10. came from a coal mining town in Norway called Roros, the district was
11. named Roros School District #2193. Because there was no municipality
12. formed, the secretary-treasurer collected school taxes of ten cents an
13. acre. This varied later from $12 - $16 a quarter section.
14.  
15. The first school, built by Hans Nysetvold, cost $1200 for material and
16. $160 for labour. It was opened June 5, 1911 with Miss Branwell as
17. teacher. School was open for six months with a teacher’s salary of $65
18. per month. While looking through the minute books, we find Ole Nysetvold
19. and John Murray, who served on the board, were instrumental in organizing
20. and getting the school operating. In 1912, a small teacherage was added
21. for the teacher who also performed the janitorial duties. In 1916, a new,
22. larger teacherage was built for $22 in wages and the old shack became the
23. coal shed. In 1922, a porch was added and as money permitted, a bell and
24. a Waterbury wood and coal heater were added. A cord of wood and a load
25. of coal cost three dollars each. As they were never able to get a good
26. water well, a student brought a five gallon can of water for ten cents each
27. day.
28.  
29. We are fortunate in having records of teachers who taught in Roros: Mr.
30. White in 1912, Miss Carrathers (Mrs. Shep Sewell) from 1913-14, Mr.
31. Windle and Mr. Chesterman from 1915-16 (who enlisted in World War I),
32. Miss Ellingson from 1917-18, Miss Berg in 1919, Miss Trainer in 1920,
33. Miss Hendrickson (Mrs. Rustard, Wainwright) in 1921, Mrs. Martin from
34. 1922-23, Miss O. Folkins (Mrs. Olive McKenzie, Wainwright) in 1924 and
35. Miss Armour from 1924-32. I remember going to school then when Joe
36. McKenzie would come for the teacher in his new, black, touring Ford car.
37.  
38. Reminiscing, I remember Mr. P.H. Perry (1924) travelling with a team and
39. buggy or sleigh. At Christmas, his good wife, also a teacher, would bundle
40. up three small children and come to help with the Christmas concert. This
41. was the event of the year! A tree reaching to the ceiling would be brought
42. by Mr. William Nysetvold from the Ribstone creek nearby. Real candles
43. adorned the well decorated tree in some early years.
44.  
45. The school building was not only a place of learning but also served as a
46. community center for various functions, meetings, chicken suppers, oyster
47. stew suppers and, on occasion, church services and Sunday school.
48. Children had entries in the Chauvin fair, such as handwriting and drawings
49. of flowers and vegetables.
50.  
51. I remember going to school with my brother in a sleigh in winter and a
52. cart in summer pulled by a black Shetland pony. If you rode the Shetland
53. and came to a slough, the pony would lie down resulting in two wet
54. children. When we drove, we would fill the cream can with water, get to
55. the school early and light the fire. When it warmed up, I would be able to
56. practise music lessons on the new piano which was bought in 1926. When
57. the piano arrived, the teacher, Miss Armour (Mrs. E. Erickson, Wainwright)
58. would let us try to play and learn notes in small groups at noon. How she
59. stood the noise, I’ll never know! But this instilled music into several of
60. us. During the summer, a music teacher would come every Saturday to
61. give lessons.
62.  
63. In the early years, I remember the teacher and pupils would take their
64. lunches and trek to the creek for a class in nature study and also for a
65. picnic. Bathing suits were unheard of so, for a dip in the creek, the
66. boys went north and the girls went south with a sentry half-way between
67. to warn of unexpected intruders.
68.  
69. Another event was a community picnic at the end of June with an
70. afternoon of ball games, races, pie-eating contests, ice cream, treats and
71. balloons for prizes. Everyone brought lunch. Coffee was made in a large
72. wash boiler and lemonade from a cream can quenched the thirst. Truly,
73. those were the good old days of community spirit and fellowship!
74.  
75. The school year was extended to ten months when Grade VIII departmental
76. exams were written in 1924. Roros can boast of the distinction that the
77. Governor General’s Bronze Medal for the highest standing in the
78. Wainwright and Provost inspectorate was won by John Murray in 1927,
79. (Mrs. E. Nysetvold) in 1928 and Elmer Johnson in 1929. Miss
80. Armour deserves a lot of credit for those awards. Grade IX was added in
81. 1925.
82.  
83. Teacher’s salaries increased from $65 a month to $110, then declined to
84. $84 in the late thirties. School attendance varied from eight to thirty-
85. six. Several students became secretaries, engineers, teachers, nurses,
86. members of the armed forces, etc.
87.  
88. Names of some of the families who attended Roros School during the years
89. are: Anderson, Arneson, Bengtson, Erickson, Johnson, Larson, Lien, Murray,
90. Nysetvold, Reitan, Ramlo, Simpson, Sorken, Sewell and Taylor.
91.  
92. Times in the rural area were changing with the advent of better
93. transportation to nearby towns, and a lack of enough students in the small
94. schools. On January 1, 1939, Roros became a part of the Wainwright
95. School Division. Teachers who taught here were: Miss Johnson, Miss
96. Christensen, Mrs. Arnett, Mrs. Dewar and Mrs. E. Nysetvold. I remember the
97. Roros School and Edinglassie School were the first in that area to be
98. bussed to Chauvin. So in 1949, Roros School became a part of a larger
99. centralized school system. For some years, the school was used for
100. meetings and as a polling station for municipal and government elections.
101. The Roros School still stands as a reminder of the pioneers and the work
102. they did to improve the education of their children.

Roros School District No. 2193
Submitted by Emmy (Johnson) Nysetvold

119-120-121