Old Ribstone School District No. 1629
Old Ribstone School District was formed in 1909 and was the first
organized school in the area. Land, known as the Fortune Quarter, was
bought by a bachelor, Murdock Nicholson, and he donated the site for the
school. Pupils came from as far as Edgerton.
Situated on NW ¼ 30-42-3 W4, the school wsa name Ribstone after the Ribstone Creek which meandered through the district near the school. Later, when the railroad passed south of the school, the hamlet of Ribstone was established. Another school was built there which they called Ribstone. As a result the first school became known as Old Ribstone.
Mattie White, one of the first students, attended the first year. He and other pupils carried water from the Nicholson yard to water the evergreens which had been planted around the school yard.
In 1937 the school burned during the Christmas holidays and 16’ x 20’ house was moved from south of Edinglassie school, near the Ribstone Creek. As many as twenty children were crowded in.
A basement was dug but it was some time before the school was built. A mound of earth from the basement was piled where the school had been and was used as a sledding run by the children. The mound remains there with the spruce and pines.
In 1948, when schools were consolidated, the building was bought by Mike Trefiak and moved to his farm where it has been remodelled and is a home today.
Old Ribstone School District No. 1629
Submitted by Mildred Reinhart
from information given by Howard White
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