Salisbury Morse Place School celebrates 100 years

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/02/2015 (3934 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One hundred years in service is certainly a milestone, and the folks at Salisbury Morse Place School (795 Prince Rupert Ave.) have some festivities planned to commemorate the anniversary.

“We’ve already had several assemblies,” Nicole Gagnon, a phys-ed teacher at Salisbury Morse Place and one of the organizers of the 100th anniversary celebrations, told The Herald. Gagnon explained that beginning with the annual Remembrance Day assembly, Salisbury Morse Place School has been using monthly assemblies to roll out different teachable aspects of the school’s history to students.

“We’ve been using the assemblies to create a buzz with the students,” Gagnon said. These commemorative assemblies, along with other events, will continue throughout the school year. Classrooms are also working on developing PowerPoint presentations looking back at specific decades over the past 100 years. Staff have also been sporting 100th anniversary T-shirts throughout the school year.

“You can feel the excitement building,” Gagnon said.

But the main event to which Gagnon and the rest of Salisbury Morse Place are building towards takes place on Thurs., April 23. The full-day event will include a special public performance in the afternoon at 1:30 p.m., where former students of Salisbury Morse Place are invited to open time capsules that were sealed as part of the school’s 75th anniversary back in the 1989-90 school year.

“I’m guessing they’re either notes that were written themselves, or letters guessing what life would be like in 25 years,” Gagnon speculated on the subject of just what they’ll find inside the time capsules.

There will also be an archival display in the early years library, where former students who can’t make the afternoon performance can come to retrieve their time capsules.

Finally, there will be a second public performance in the evening of April 23, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., where the school will be presented with a 100th anniversary plaque.

Both events are free to the public. Salisbury Morse Place School would like to extend an invitation to all former students to attend either of the performance, or to submit photos, stories, or other memorabilia to be displayed either at the school, or on the school’s website. Anyone is welcome to attend the 100th anniversary celebrations.

For more information, please call 204-669-9304 or visit the school’s website at www.smp.retsd.mb.ca

Plenty of changes at school over past century

If there’s one thing that’s remained the same at Salisbury Morse Place from the time the doors first opened to Salisbury School #1 in the fall of 1915, it’s that things are always changing.

That first year, 158 students from Grades 1 to 8 entered the school. With more and more people moving to the area, the school became crowded quickly.  In 1920, Salisbury School #2 was opened on the same site. Older students filled the classrooms at Salisbury #2, with younger students attending class in Salisbury #1. At that time, few homes in the area had running water, and both schools used a hand pump to get water.

During the Great Depression, enrolment to Salisbury Morse Place School dried up, forcing Salisbury #1 to shutter its doors. In 1950, with population booming in the area, $23,000 was invested into renovating Sal #1 back into action.

Morse Place School opened in 1959, with 19 classrooms, an auditorium in the middle of the building, the library and office at the front of the school and two home economics and shops rooms at the back of the building. As a result, Salisbury #1 once again closed up, only to reopen yet again in 1973.

“Morse Place was seen as a tough, blue collar part of the city,” Syd Enns told The Herald. Enns, a former Morse Place student, went on to become a teacher and administrator with the River East Transcona School Division. “But those of us that went to Morse Place knew it to be a safe, inclusive school; a school where everyone had an opportunity to grow and learn. We loved our school.”

In 1977, a large addition to Morse Place School was completed. Salisbury #1 was once again under-utilized. But it wasn’t until the boiler in the old building gave out in 1987 that the building was finally demolished. A time capsule, “containing coins from 1915, two newspapers and the School Act” was saved, along with the cornerstone, which can still be seen today at the front of the school.

Then, in 1992, following the 75th anniversary, Salisbury School was connected to Morse Place junior high, creating the unified Salisbury Morse School that area residents know today.
“Our school has gone through many changes and challenges over the years,” Salisbury Morse Place phys-ed teacher Nicole Gagnon said. “But all along, it has been a place of learning and excellence.”

Facebook.com/TheHeraldWPG
Twitter: @heraldWPG