Page 134 More Big Hill Country 2009
Beaupre Creek School District #4182
The Beaupre district is west of Cochrane on 1A highway and then about 2 kilometres NE on highway 40. The School District was officially formed in 1938 and named after Beaupre Creek, which had been named after an early settler, Louis Beaupre.
The first classroom was the old Cooper House. In the summer of 1925 a school was built, on the school section near the centre of the district. In 1941 the building was moved to SE Sec 29 Twp 26 Rge 5 W5M where a shelterbelt provided protection from the prevailing winds. In 1958, the Dry Creek School was purchased and moved from Balzac. The old school became the teacherage. The school was closed in 1962. In later years, the building became a well-used community centre. Unfortunately, it was consumed by fire in October 2001. The Beaupre Community Association banded together to rebuild, and a new structure was officially opened in March, 2003
Reminisces of Doris McKinnon (Ambler) as recorded in Big Hill Country
The first trustee of the Beaupre Creek School District was Mr. F. G. Buchanan, who later became the superintendent of schools in Calgary.
An old farm house, known as the “Cooper House” was used as a school for the first two years. The partitions were removed to make a large room and a blackboard was nailed to one wall. As it was a very old house and had not been lived in for years, it did not make an adequate classroom. As children, this did not concern us, but the teachers stayed only for a short time. During the two years we had four teachers, one man leaving after two days.
For the first term, our teacher was James Clancy. The pupils were eight or nine children from the three families of McDougalls, Liddells and Amber. Another family, living in the Beaupre Creek School District was the Delbekes. They transferred from the Grand Valley S.D. when our new school opened in the fall of 1925.
At the “Cooper House” there was no specific playground area, but it was a favourable location for interesting recess activities. In the winter, sliding down the snow banks into the coulee was great fun. The old barns made an ideal place to play ‘hide-and-seek’ or ‘runsheep-run’. For a while, we had races rolling down the hill until our clothes began to show undue wear, and our parents put a stop to it.
The school was heated with a wood-burning stove and on cold days, the desks were arranged around the stove. At lunchtime, sandwiches were toasted on top of the stove. In order for us all to have a hot drink at noon it was agreed that my sister and I should bring cocoa and the other children the sugar. Each morning, my mother made a five-pound syrup pail of chocolate milk and at recess, we put it on the stove to heat. One day we forgot to loosen the lid and it blew up, so there was no hot drink that day.
Chapleton/Horse Creek School District #1812
Established in April, 1908, the Chapleton school district was named by Mr. Patterson after his home school in Scotland. The school was built on land NE Sec 24 Twp 27 Rge 5 WSM owned by Walter Crow. At the time of establishment, Jason Malott was the senior trustee. “Chapleton” was officially changed to Horse Creek S.D. on June 7, 1951.
1932-1933 (as remembered by Fred Whittle)
The local school referred to elsewhere as Horse Creek School was originally “Chapleton” and later ”Chapelton”. It was about 2 miles north of our place on the NE Sec 24 Twp 27 Rge 5 W5M. I am sure the site was selected because there was a little spring on the road allowance at that point, water being important for kids as well as cattle. But imagine a school grounds without one square yard of level terrain! The first building (1909) had windows on two sides, north and south. It was destroyed by fire in 1922. The replacement had windows on the east side only. Have you ever tried to write or read with the light coming in from the wrong side? That building, too, burned down after the Christmas concert in 1924. The carpenters who built the third Chapelton boarded at our place and I recall the fixing of some storm windows for Dad. How deft they were at spreading on the putty.
In the early 1950’s, the historic one-room schools gave way to consolidated schools. Local students were bused to Westbrook. At a later date, still the site of Horse Creek School was marked by a large stone monument bearing a plaque commemorating the school’s beginning. It stands there today tenderly cared for by the Horse Creek Community Association. In 1932 the Chapelton School District was advertising for a teacher. I applied. The school board, my dad, a prominent member, saw fit to give me the nod and so, come September 1, 1932 I began my teaching career, salary $60/month, including caretaking duties. Not many pupils, but all the grades, the Christmas concert, the annual joint picnic – Grade VIIl exams and (shudder) the school inspector!
The Department of Agriculture placed a bounty on gophers – they chewed up the young plants in the grain fields like you wouldn’t believe. The bounty was claimed by “turning in” gopher tails. My students had a little project to raise some money with gopher tails. On this particular afternoon, I had extended the noon hour by quite a bit while the kids caught gophers. And that was the day the inspector paid his visit to Chapelton! I saw my job going down the drain! I gathered the pupils as quickly as I could, he did his inspection routine and he never even mentioned the gopher tail project in his report!
1933-1934
In all my days of teaching I can boast of having taught one grade one pupil. He was Dickie Grey. His family lived on the Hogarth place, a half mile down the road. He was a very smart little fellow and I was taxed at times to keep him busy. Now, in those times Grade VIII pupils faced Departmental examinations – couldn’t go on to High School if they didn’t pass. As examination time approached I spent much time with Grade VIII’s, my job could be on the line! I had given Dickie some work to do “Finished that Mr. Whittle”. Gave him some more ‘busy work’ – “Finished that Mr. Whittle”. Finally in desperation, I said “Wiggle into your coat and go on home.” He did, my Grade VIII pupils always passed.
Cochrane Lake School District #1947
This school district was organized on March 9, 1909 and the school was built on one and one-half acres of NE Sec 34 Twp 26 Rge 4 W5M. Robert Dawson, a stonemason who came to the district from Durham, England, did a lot of masonry work in the area, including the school’s foundation. Sid Chester did the carpentry. Bernice Speer, in Big Hill Country, recalls receiving $15.00 a month for providing room and board for a Cochrane Lake’s teacher, Miss Jennie Anderson, during the 1930s. The school was closed in the early 1940s. The school was moved east to the Inglis district as the original Inglis School had been moved to Cochrane.
Dartique School District #3814
Named after settler John Dartique this school district was established April 24, 1919. Albert G. Butler was the Secretary Treasurer at the time. A school was never built due to a small population of school-aged children. Any children within the district attended Chapleton, Westbrook or Mount Hope schools.
Grand Valley School District #559
Built in 1901, this was the first country school built in the Cochrane area north of the Bow River. Land for the school yard was donated by Donald McEachen. Located in the north west corner of the NE Sec 34 Twp 26 Rge 5 WSM classes started in May 1901 with eleven students attending. In 1919 the Grand Valley School closed as the Chapelton School had opened and students were scheduled to travel there. That was not a satisfactory plan so Grand Valley re-opened in 1920. On June 30, 1932 the school was closed for good.
Weedon School District # 1780
Established on March 11, 1908, records held by the Glenbow Museum show the senior trustee was Mr. E. Brown. Weedon school was located on a two acres site in the north east corner of NE 1/4 Sec 22 1\vp 27 Rg 4 W5M. It was built on land donated by W. Harry Webb in an area known as “The Desert” because of the depth of underground streams and a lack of otherwise plentiful springs. Mr. Kenneth Hammond named the school district after his home village in England. Miss Ford was the first teacher. Weedon closed at the end of June 1943. In April 1964 the school was moved to Calgary’s Heritage Park.
West Brook School District #1647
This School District was formally organized in 1907 but according to Westbrook School, Biggest Little School a history prepared on the occasion of the School’s 50th anniversary, classes actually began in 1906 in a renovated log cabin located on the NW Sec 15 Twp 28 Rge 4 W5M. Built by Chapman Brothers of Cochrane, the actual school building was located at SE Sec 21 Twp 28 Rge 4 WSM on land donated by John T. Boucher. The Reverend H. T. Jarrett both taught school and on Sundays, preached the Gospel. He taught at the log cabin and when the “new” one-room school opened in 1907 he was the first teacher. The West Brook School District #1647 became part of the Calgary School Division #41 in 1939. According to records held by the Glenbow Museum Archives, Westbrook, as we now know it, was two words at the time of formation in 1907.
In 1953 the school was closed and students were transported by bus to the new Westbrook Consolidated School located at its present location on NE Sec 3 Twp 28 Rge 4 W5 adjacent to Highway 22.
Westbrook is the only active country school of those that began with one room. In October 2007 its school population was just under 140 students. The school is comprised of 6 classrooms, a technology integrated library, a modem computer lab, an art/drama room and networked classrooms. The surrounding community seems to have taken “ownership” of the landmark school. During the fall of 2002 the Horse Creek Community Hall, formerly the Horse Creek School, was sold and the community group graciously donated $5,000.00 to the Friends of Westbrook School Society towards improvement of the Westbrook School grounds and outdoor structures.
