Little Schools in the Parkland

BATT SCHOOL DISTRICT No.1960

  1. The first school, named after Mr. Batt, who was the first settler in the
  2. Batts Valley, was built in 1908 by carpenters Lambie and Rainie. It was
  3. located seven miles north of the hamlet of Jarrow, on SE ¼ 3-47-10 W4.
  4. At that time, the school was kept open only four or five months in the
  5. summer due to insufficient funds. In the early years most of the children
  6. walked to school. Some had several miles to go. Eventually, nearly every
  7. family acquired a saddle horse and some drove one horse or a team. It was
  8. not uncommon to see the eight-stalled barn filled and some horses
  9. standing in the alleyway.
  10.  
  11. The first teacher was an English girl, Miss Robinson. She boarded at the
  12. Denison home. There were many arguments between her and Mr. Denison,
  13. as he had come from the state of Washington, and naturally both defended
  14. their own country’s ways and customs.
  15.  
  16. In 1911, there were eleven children attending school, namely, Carl, Ruby
  17. and Ruth Whidden; Stanley Lennox; Marion Haynes; Ezra, Lydia and Pearl
  18. Denison; and Paul, Amelia and Esther Loring. Miss Taite and Mr. Hull were
  19. the teachers following Miss Robinson. In 1913, Miss Rutherford arrived to
  20. teach. She boarded at the Loring home as had Miss Taite and Mr. Hull. The
  21. oldest register shows that E.M. Ross was the teacher in 1918. Until the
  22. Echo and Lynx Schools were built, some of their children attended Batts
  23. School.
  24.  
  25. Concerts, dances, basket socials, card parties and plays were often put on
  26. by the teachers and the young people, both married and single, as a source
  27. of entertainment. Church services were held in the homes throughout the
  28. district until after the school was built. Mr. D. Whidden was the Sunday
  29. school superintendent for many years. Sunday school and church services
  30. were conducted at Batt School until the Batt and Jarrow congregations
  31. were joined in about 1950; then services were conducted in the Jarrow
  32. Church. Mrs. George Theroux deserves a lot of credit for keeping Sunday
  33. school, church services, and U.C.W. active in the community.
  34.  
  35. In 1914, Miss McGuire was the teacher, with three Bridgemans, four
  36. Lorings, three Denisons, five Andersons, two Lennoxes, Marion Haynes and
  37. Lester Brown as pupils.
  38.  
  39. Pioneers all remember the great ‘flu of 1918.’ The school was closed by
  40. the Minister of Education owing to the influenza epidemic. In 1920 Alice
  41. M. Marshall was the teacher. Teachers in later years were as follows:
  42. 1923-24 Miss Lila Wright (Mrs. Dick Rohrer); 1924 Viola Good; 1925-26
  43. Beatrice Webb; 1927 Barbara Caines; 1927-28 D.E. Peterson; 1928-29 Mrs.
  44. O Theroux; 1929-31 Gladys Bowen; 1931-38 Nan Kennedy; 1938-39 Miss
  45. Irene Ross (Mrs. Elwyn Gilpin); 1939-46 Mrs. R. Mark.
  46.  
  47. Inspectors signing the register include J.W. Russell (1918); J. Fowler
  48. (1920); M.O. Nelson (1924-27); W.H. Swift (1929-30); L. Goode (1930-37);
  49. and H.J. Coutts (1943-44).
  50.  
  51. Chairmen of the Batt School Board include (1926) Carl Ahlf; (1927-29)
  52. H.S. Denison; (1929-30) Wm. Bridgeman; (1931-35) Ezra Denison; (1936-
  53. 41) Viggo Lindberg. Secretaries of the board include (1926-29) H.B.
  54. McCully; (1929-31) Earl Moore; (1932-35) L.L. Moore; (1936-41) G.M.
  55. Bridgeman.
  56.  
  57. The highlights of the school year were the Christmas concert and the
  58. annual year-end picnic with pie-eating contest, ball games, races
  59. and potluck suppers.
  60.  
  61. The original school was destroyed by fire in February 1940. School was
  62. held at the Carl Ahlf house until a new school was built. Teachers in the
  63. following years were Mrs. Earl Burr, Miss Mary Mansfield, Miss Peggy
  64. McPeak, Mrs. R. Mark and Mrs. Wm. Meakins.
  65.  
  66. District names recorded by the registers include Theroux, Swartz,
  67. Denison, Lennox, Edmunds, Williams, Greene, Smith, Brown, Lindberg,
  68. Carter, Barker, McCully, Whidden, Ahlf, Grant, Bridgeman, Jewell, Good,
  69. Goldman, Kennedy, Fuder, Ambler, Marbery, Miller, Moore, Mark, Lockhart,
  70. Westley, Campbell, Lingley, McNall, Holt, Granger, Bruhaug, Burr,
  71. Oracheski, Meakins, Guthric, Myers, Matthews, and Murray.
  72.  
  73. After the school was closed and the children bussed to Irma, the building
  74. served as a community centre for a number of years. The school building
  75. is still standing, but has suffered from vandalism the last few years.

Batt School District No. 1960
from “Down Memory Lane”

24-25