Old school building filled many roles over years
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/05/2021 (741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
East Kildonan School was located on the west side of Henderson Highway, north of McLeod Avenue on what is now the Kildonan Village Shopping Centre; it replaced the earlier Kildonan East School which had opened in 1871.
It was built at a cost of around $10,000, by the Elmwood contractor Peter McCalman and it opened on Nov. 16, 1908 as a two-storey structure with one classroom on the main floor and one on the second floor, each classroom was designed to educate 60 students. In 1913 a two-room addition was built at the back of the school at a cost of $11,000 as the enrolment had climbed to about 175 students. The now four room school was now designed to educate 200 students, but the actual enrolment was 230 students when it closed as a school in June 1915.
The building had a relatively short existence as a school building from November 1908 to June 1915 with both Lord Wolseley School and Lord Kitchener (now John Pritchard School) opening in 1915 replacing it.
In 1915 it became the municipal hall for the Municipality of East Kildonan which had split off from West Kildonan in 1914, The building was purchased from the East Kildonan School District for $15,000. It remained the municipal hall for the next nine years but with the Municipality of North Kildonan splitting off from East Kildonan in 1925, it was now located within the boundaries of the new municipality which now became its new owner.
North Kildonan had no need for so a large municipal hall so after a number of attempts to sell it off, it was rented out as the Plaza Inn from 1927 to 1931 and the Coconut Grove 1934 to 1937 and the Big Apple Night Club, from 1937 to 1941.
The surrounding school grounds were sold in 1931 to commercial interests with the Redekopp family opening their first store, the Roadside Store behind the building in 1939. The Redekopps later purchased the entire property establishing the well known Redekopp Lumber business.
The old school building remained on the site until the mid-1960s, when it was demolished. It was known as the yellow building for many years as it was painted yellow.
In 1979, the Polet family bought the property and established Polet Lumber. The entire property which had originally been the school and the school grounds was sold in 1986, to create the Kildonan Village Shopping Centre.
Jim Smith is a community correspondent for Elmwood, East Kildonan and North Kildonan. Email him at jimsmith@mts.net
Jim Smith
Jim Smith is a community correspondent for Elmwood, East Kildonan and North Kildonan. Email him at jimsmith@mts.net