Riverland School
SE 15-15-11 E
Lac du Bonnet area

Designation Date:  December 11, 2008
Designation Authority:  R.M. of Lac du Bonnet
Present Owner:  Lac du Bonnet Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee

Riverland School, domestic in proportions and fronted by a broad storm porch, is a fine example of a one-room rural schoolhouse from the mid-1920s and the last remaining facility of its type in the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet. Based on one of the larger standardized Manitoba Department of Education designs from the period, the structure features an obligatory bank of windows along one side of its multigrade classroom, upper openings for fresh air circulation, cloakrooms lighted by side windows and a central entrance protected by a canopy. The sturdy, practical building, situated on land donated by Gus Anderson, served students from grades one to eight for over four decades, many from Swedish families who settled in the area. Declared a heritage site with the generosity of its present owner, the school remains an important legacy of the Riverland community’s commitment to the formal education of local children.