Description of Historic Place

Inkster School Building and the Inkster School Teacherage is a Municipal Heritage Property located within the Rural Municipality of Nipawin No. 487 approximately 5 km west of the Village of Codette. Situated on a small plain surrounded by a partial tree row, the property features a stucco-clad, one-room school built in 1914 and a wood-frame teacherage built in 1932.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Inkster School Building and the Inkster School Teacherage lies in its representation of early educational buildings in Saskatchewan. The Codette (later renamed Inkster) School District was founded in 1913 and within a year the one-room school was constructed. The current teacherage was added in 1932, replacing an original residence attached to the school. The property remained as a school until the district was amalgamated in 1963 and, today, is used as a museum.

The property is typical of the one-room school complexes which once dotted the province’s rural landscape, featuring a vernacular one-room school and a teacherage on an open school yard. With the amalgamation of school districts during the 1950s, many one-room schools were closed and their buildings removed. The Inkster School is one of the few properties that have remained relatively unchanged since its closure. The historical integrity of the property contributes to its ability to interpret early educational buildings in the province.

Source:

Rural Municipality of Nipawin No. 487 Bylaw 6-1982.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Inkster School Building and the Inkster School Teacherage resides in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements that reflect the property’s representation of early educational buildings in Saskatchewan, including the one-room school and its simple massing and form as well as the schools vernacular construction and design;
-the small teacherage and its simple form and massing, as well as its close proximity to the school house;
-the small open landscaped grounds that surround the complex;
-the location of the one-room school and teacherage on their original sites.