Description of Historic Place

Ravineside School is a Municipal Heritage Property located in the Rural Municipality of McKillop No. 220, approximately six kilometres south and sixteen kilometres west of the Town of Strasbourg. The property features a one-storey, wood-frame building which was constructed in 1913.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of Ravineside School resides in its contribution to early education in the Strasbourg area. In early 1912, the settlers who lived along the east shore of Last Mountain Lake successfully petitioned the Saskatchewan government for their own school district. Initially known as the Collingwood School District No. 1336, by late 1912, the name of the school district had been changed to Ravineside. The contract for construction of the one-room school was awarded in May 1913 to W.J. Braden. The school officially opened on September 2 of that year and continued to serve the local community until the school closed in 1962. The building remained vacant for the next ten years until being relocated to the Strasbourg Bible Camp, about three kilometres southwest of the original school site. The Ravineside School building continues to be used as a crafts centre.

The heritage value also lies in the building’s design, which is typical of the one-room, wood-frame schools constructed throughout rural Saskatchewan during the first decades of the twentieth century. This style can be observed in the building’s rectangular form, hip roof, pattern of window openings, and clapboard siding. Interior elements that contribute to the building’s heritage value include the wood flooring and mouldings, and V-joint wainscotting.

Source:
Rural Municipality of McKillop No. 220 Bylaw No. 89/82.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Ravineside School lies in the following character-defining elements:
-elements that identify the building as an early-twentieth century rural schoolhouse, including the regular massing and rectangular form, hip roof, central entrance, clapboard siding, the pattern of window openings, the interior classroom space, the wood flooring and mouldings, and V-joint wainscotting.