Description of Historic Place

Riverside School, completed in 1883 and moved to its current site in 1902, is a small wood-frame building on farmland near Minto. The municipal designation applies to the one-storey school and its grounds.

Heritage Value

Riverside School, an unassuming wooden structure, is one of the oldest one-room rural schools in western Manitoba. Its front oculus and pedimented window caps add elements of style to its otherwise functional design. Set in an agricultural district near the Souris River valley, the school attests to the priority attached to public education by early settlers in the Minto area. The facility, which doubled as a church during its first few decades, served the community for 73 years.

Source: Rural Municipality of Whitewater By-law No. 9805, April 8, 1998

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Riverside School site include:
- its location in the Minto area, two kilometres south of the Souris River, with the school facing west over open farmland

Key exterior elements that define the building's modest utilitarian character include:
- the compact rectangular single-storey massing under a moderately pitched, forward-facing gable roof, with a lower hip-roofed front (west) porch
- the basic materials and finishes, including the wood-frame construction, white-painted horizontal wood siding with contrasting wood trim and metallic shingles
- the symmetrical fenestration featuring rectangular sash windows with pedimented caps on the north and south sides, an oculus in the peak of the west gable and a transom window over the south door
- minimal details such as the brick chimney on the east end and the vertical board door on the south side

Key interior elements that define the building's heritage character and schoolhouse function include:
- the one-room classroom plan with an entrance porch
- the unpretentious materials and finishes, including painted vertical wood wainscotting, wood flooring, plain wood trim around windows, etc.
- features such as the two blackboards on the north and east walls, etc.