Prosperity School District No. 2126
In my second term of teaching at Hines Creek in the beautiful Peace River
country, I received a touching letter from my widowed mother. “Please,
Dear,” she wrote, “I think you should come to a school closer to home. The
first thing we know you will marry a nice young fellow up there and we
will never see you again.”
After some consideration, I applied for a school in the Wainwright School Division #32 and was accepted. I was very fortunate to begin teaching at Prosperity School in September 1944.
Let’s go back to another memorable year, 1910, for in February of that year, authorization was given making James Swan, W.O. Harris and Alex Ferguson trustees of a new school district, Prosperity! $800 was issued in debentures to cover the cost of the school, furniture and barn. One acre of land, SW ¼ 15-44-1 W 4th, was purchased from the C.P.R. at $33 an acre. The first mill rate was set at ten cents per acre.
By August, all was ready for school to begin. Mr. James Cargill, a recent homesteader, was the first teacher hired with a salary of $630 per year. In the immediate following years, Judson Perry, A.L. Harmer and Miss Edna Clark received $720 per annum; the secretary received $25 and Reggie Harris was hired for $2.50 a month as janitor.
Some important events and additions to the school are as follows:
1915 – a well was bored on the school premises and a foundation was put
under the building.
1916 – the first paint job on the building was white with green trim.
A secondhand six octave organ was bought.
1920 – the first telephone was installed. This caused a delicate situation
when the constant ringing for the students on the part of the parents
caused the teacher to plug the bells so classes wouldn’t be interrupted.
The phone remained in the school.
1921 – five acres were purchased from I.E. Neil and added to the school
grounds. Enrollment had grown and the school was a busy place with
social activities.
1924 – Trees were planted around the yard. A curling rink was built,
instigated by many enthusiastic curlers in Prosperity and surrounding
districts. Response from the young people was overwhelming. The curling
rink (one sheet of ice) brought busy days and nights and much pleasure to
curlers and onlookers alike. It was originally lighted by gas lights hung
along the length of the rink.
1928 – a full basement was put under the school. The curlers hosted
many oyster suppers and the women put on sumptuous chicken dinners in
the basement. People came from miles around to feast at these famous
functions. A dance followed. Proceeds bought a beautiful hardwood floor
for $75, a well-equipped kitchen and a piano.
1938 – a new furnace was installed for $188. Grade nine was taught
with the approval of the inspector. Prosperity’s first trustee to the
newly-formed Wainwright School Division #32 was W. Sewell.
The local board, comprised of Harry Lagroix, John Carpenter and Harry Hassal, looked after local matters.
In 1944 as I walked up to the school and caught my first glimpse of my new schoolhouse, a welcoming committee was lined up on the steps or were they just catching a glimpse of the new school ma’am? Happy indeed were my two years there. We won and kept for two years the coveted Strathcona Trust Shield for Physical Education. A boy in grade nine wanted to look his best for the Christmas Concert (he was a bit of a showoff) so he came to school with his hair done up in “rags.” Vanity changed to remorse when he was teased by the other boys.
Dr. Herbert Coutts was Superintendent of Schools and chose a very cold day to make his inspection. He stayed at noon and enjoyed the hot soup and tasty goodies the children gave him. When he was ready to leave, he asked if the older boys could help him dig his car out of a snowdrift. We got a good report that year.
With the exception of two families, the children came to school on horseback or by team and buggy-cutter. Northern Crown had been closed so two girls from that district rode five and one half or six miles to Prosperity and held the record of arriving at school the earliest, winter and summer. We had a bit of a family feud when a horse broke loose and helped itself to the closest oat bundle or bag of feed.
The scare of my teaching days came on Arbour Day. The children came armed with rakes to clean up the grounds. Near completion, we had a big pile of refuse. “Look! Smoke!” someone cried. Busy little fingers had set fire to a pile of grass behind the barn. A bucket brigade was formed and the fire was soon put out.
Edinglassie was the nearest operating school and in the spring we challenged each other to a ball game. Mrs. Irene Cargill was the teacher and her husband Johnny was on hand to umpire a fair game.
In 1949 the school was closed as each year it had become more difficult to get a teacher. The solution was to bus the children to Chauvin. The school building was purchased by Harry Hassall and is now a shop. Tall trees stand as sentinels in an unkept overgrown area on a side road that is seldom travelled. There is no evidence of school days, dear old golden rule days.
Prosperity School District No. 2126
Submitted by Eleanor Perry
125-126-127