Description of Historic Place

The Swanson School, built in 1916, is a Municipal Heritage Property located in the Rural Municipality of Montrose No. 315. Located in the southeast corner of the Hamlet of Swanson, the property features a two-storey, red-brick schoolhouse with corner bell tower.

Heritage Value

The Swanson School is of heritage value as the community’s schoolhouse from 1916 to 1971. During this time, the school served the Village of Swanson and surrounding area. The Swanson School was known as Knight School until 1934, taking its name from the earlier country school that was moved into the village. With the closing of country schools, Swanson School also served the students from Iola School Division from 1941 and from Baupaume School Division after 1947.

The Swanson School’s heritage value also lies in its architecture, being one of the earliest structures in the community. The school is constructed with a red-brick exterior, two walls of windows, and a bell tower. The interior of the school was completed with two large classrooms, with one on each floor. The building is the design of the Waterman Waterbury Company of Regina and Minneapolis, which was the leading designer of schoolhouses in Saskatchewan in the early-twentieth century. Most of the company’s schoolhouse design and material packages were for small one-room, wood-frame schools, though the Swanson School exemplifies their more substantial designs. Today, the building stands as a landmark in the community.

Source:

R.M. of Montrose No. 315 Bylaw 1993-1 .

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Swanson School resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements of the building associated with its use as a school, such as its red-brick-clad exterior, two-storey form, corner bell tower with splayed roof and flagpole, cross-gable roof with wood-shingle-clad, overhanging gables, and fenestration with banks of windows, and two-over-two and multi-pane window sashes.