Hayfield School

Alberta

Hayfield School is a very popular photo subject for those who know of it and are willing to make the long drive to the South Peace River area. It’s popularity stems in part from the log structure construction and its appeal is enhanced by the two old vehicles that are parked next to it.

A Bit of History

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Hayfield School is that it ever got built in the first place. The local history book makes no secret of some of the arguments and difficulties in gathering support for the school. The local children had to be taken to the Gimli School which was 13 kms north; that’s no small distance when horses, rather than horsepower, are the only means of transport. Six children rode to school in a cutter made by Gil Gillard. A cutter is an open, lightweight, horse-drawn sleigh that usually holds no more than two people (don’t feel bad if you didn’t know that, I had to look it up). Provincial regulations permitted the formation of a school district when there were at least 10 children of school age. This would come as a great relief to those settlers with children but to the bachelors it simply meant more taxes at a time when money was hard to come by. That problem was not unique to this area.

Once the hurdle of establishing the inevitable need for a school was surmounted, the next decision was probably less onerous. That was how the school was to be built. There are three common methods:

1. In most of the south prairies, where there were very few trees but many railways, lumber from distant sawmills was brought in by trains for wood frame school construction.
2. In many parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba (not so much in Alberta), schools were built out of field stone. The stones were basically free building material that seemed to grow as fast as crops from the farmer’s fields. Each farmer with children would be tasked with hauling his share of stones from his land to the building site.
3. In the Peace River area, there were lots of trees but no railways and, in the earlier years, only the smallest of sawmills. Thus, a log structure was agreed upon as the best building material and method of construction for Hayfield School. Each settler with children in the district was expected to supply three logs. The lumber was obtained from Lee Borden’s berth at Skunk Lake. They would haul the logs, likely one at a time, with oxen or a team of horses.

There was a fourth construction option. Brick construction was not uncommon in the cities like Edmonton and in eastern Canada but was relatively rare for schools on the prairies. Brick schools do exist but they are generally few and far between. This method would have been too expensive for the Peace River area until it became much more established.

Ah, but where to haul those logs to? The local history book says that Jim Howe’s farm was selected as the building site. That is curious because the homestead records indicate that William Phipps was the homesteader. Perhaps Phipps later sold the land to Jim Howe who then made it available for the school? Often the loss of a couple of acres of a farmer’s land was considered a fair price to pay for having a school so close as it allowed their children to walk to school on all but the coldest of days.

The children needed a school and they couldn’t wait until the new Hayfield School was built. The district rented an empty house until the school was bult. The quote below describes how the rental house and the salary of the teacher was decided. Note that Jim Mulligan may have been out by $2.00 but he managed to snag the job of janitor which provided him with $6.00 each month of the school term. A golfer might say “Jim got a mulligan” (bad pun).

This was solved by Jim Mulligan and Gil Gillard contributing $2.00 each, a matter of major concern to each of them at that time, to rent an unused house and three acres from Carl Britton for $3.00 for the term. Miss Jean Montgomery of Edmonton was hired as teacher, at $80.00 per month and Jim Mulligan the janitor at $6.00 per month.

Beaverlodge to the Rockies

The district and school name was settled at a meeting in the school when someone pointed to the 40 acre field of hay viewed from the site. Finally in 1933 the actual Hayfield School opened for the fall term. This was no small accomplishment given that the Great Depression was well underway. Abe Lowen built some fine desks for the students of the new school but the book is silent as to why they were removed only five years later.

Abe Lowen built the first desks, all dovetailed and when they were discarded five years later, there were cries of despair.

Beaverlodge to the Rockies

It’s a good thing that they built Hayfield School when they did. The new building started the first year with 14 students but the attendance increased dramatically soon thereafter. Despite its compact size this school was soon called upon to hold up to 42 students. At 42 students one might think that the teachers would quickly burnout and turnover would be high. However, Mrs Conley taught the school for “eight terms”. I don’t know if that means eight semesters or eight full years but either way it must have been tough to teach all grades (likely one to 9) in just one room with so many students. Many of Mrs Conley’s years at Hayfield school included teaching there when it was at the 42 student mark.

Every Rural School Eventually Closes

Hayfield School closed in 1949. Rural schools were being consolidated with other schools to form larger schools that enabled better education and the separation of grades. The writer of the local history suggests that the memories of most of the arguments about the school are now gone but the fact that he wrote about so many difficult conversations leaves me to think otherwise.

Gone are the memories of most of the arguments. Memories of concerts, picnics and meetings in the school and throughout the Hayfield district are still vivid in the minds of the original settlers. School consolidation has been accepted as a means of providing a higher standard of education, but in Hayfield it has been costly to the community spirit.

Beaverlodge to the Rockies

Images from 2018

I’ve visited this school twice; once in 2018 and again in 2023. The only significant difference was that in 2023 there was a second old vehicle parked next to it.

Click on any of the above eight images to enlarge. Click the arrow “>” to cycle through and click X to return to normal.

During my first visit to this school in 2018, I was definitely as enamoured with the Chevrolet truck as I was with the school. Could it have been used to haul children to the school? That’s possible as the truck looks to be of a late forties vintage.

Images from 2023

A special thing about this school is that upon returning to it I found an extra vehicle rather than just more decay of the main structure. The landowner seems to enjoy making the school more interesting for those who happen to pass by. This brings to mind the quote by the Nobel Prize winning novelist, William Faulkner. This school scene continues to evolve.

The past is never dead. It’s not even past.

William Faulkner – Requiem for a Nun

Click on any of the above six images to enlarge. Click the arrow “>” to cycle through and click the X to return to normal.

Citations and Sources:

• Beaverlodge to the Rockies. The Beaverlodge Historical Association, 1974.
• The South Peace Regional Archives were very helpful in providing the excerpts from the local history book Beaverlodge to the Rockies. My usual source, the UofC digital library did not have that book.

It’s important to respect and protect the places that I visit to photograph. For this reason I am reluctant to give out exact locations, although for proper context I do try to describe the general location. If you recognize a place featured in my blog posts please do not give out the location in the comments. If you visit a place featured here please respect the owner’s legal rights for private property and if it is on public property, such as a place on Crown land, always leave it in as good or better condition that it was when you arrived, including ensuring that the door is properly closed. Together we can help to ensure that these historic structures are available for the next generation to experience and explore. There’s no better way to learn history than to stand in the place where that history happened.