Originally published in 2015. Hello all and in this article we’ll be looking at a little school house located in the village of Netherhill Saskatchewan. Constructed over a century ago, it’s been many, many decades since classes were last taught here. It later functioned as a fraternal hall, for a bit, but now is unused. It’s seen in this post when recently constructed and again in 2015.
Built in the early 1910s (1912 seems most likely), it more than doubled in size just a couple years later. You can readily see evidence of this addition where the colours of brick differ from one side to the other. It’s most dramatic if you head around and look at the back wall. At the same time, they added some school space upstairs.
Netherhill SK School ~100 Years Apart: it’s bigger than it was. Dollar store history with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)
Thanks to “Anonymous” for sponsoring this and many other posts at BIGDoer.com. Be an angel…
This post is an old one and has not seen the light of day for many years. We’ve published so many pieces over the years (thousands, here and elsewhere) and we’ll bring back select ones like this from time to time. The good stuff, for your enjoyment, and not the stinkers. There’s lots of those and they’ll remain locked away – haha. We’ll keep the original photos in this case, but the rest has been updated.
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Initially they taught all grades here but later on it was elementary classes only. This change seems concurrent with the roads in the area improving, although the date is not clear. The older kids were then bussed to Kindersley, which is not far away and the next town west. It’s a much bigger place and more centralized.
Netherhill School closed in the mid-1960s and then all local kids had to travel further afield to attend class.
Not long afterwards the building was acquired by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) and they used it for meetings or to host community events. You can still see their iconic chain-link logo above front door.
When the group last used it is not entirely clear. We spoke with locals (phone interviews, after our visit) and while no one agreed on an exact date, all seemed to think sometime in the late 1970s/early 1980s era was probable. Further research, with the republishing of this piece, has not turned up anything new. Frustrating stuff, but that’s how research goes.
The Odd Fellows were founded almost two hundred years ago. With chapters all over the world, this benevolent organization works for the betterment of mankind through charitable and social work. Their motto is “Friendship, Love and Truth”. Nethehill is a pretty small town for a chapter, but then again, maybe they made up for it by being enthusiastic. Perhaps a few farm boys got together and needing an excuse to get out of the house, came up with the idea.
There’s also a sign listing the school district (#2659) above the door and the township coordinates (S11, T29, R21). The building has a stone foundation.
The structure sits in a field bordered by high hedges and it’s a quiet setting today. One can easily imagine it a noisy chaotic place back then, come recess or lunch. At one time, there was likely some play equipment on the grounds and maybe some biffies out back. Netherhill is a few blocks square, and the school is at the north edge of town.
You’ll find Netherhill in Western Saskatchewan. It’s off the main highway and few people stop in. There’s not much reason, we suppose. Today it’s home to a few dozen people and Main Street is mostly empty. There’s an old hotel made into a residence and it’s all that remains of the business district. The stories it must hold and being old hotel aficionados, we’d do anything to take a peek inside.
The town dates to about 1910 and that’s just before the Canadian Northern Railway came through. It’s now a Canadian National line, a secondary track that runs west from Saskatoon to Oyen Alberta, and formerly all the way into Calgary.
We’ve not be back to Netherhill since this visit, but long to return to the area. We have lots of unfinished business out that way and getting there is long overdue.
Recent Google Streetviews and posts from other adventurers shows the former school looking about the same as when we stopped by a decade back. At least from a cursory glance it looks the same. It’s a strong old structure, but all it needs to hold now is memories. It’s mostly boarded up, but a few windows with missing/broken glass were open to the elements.
Sections of the wall above the front entryway show buckling from anchored cables and these are from when the building was used for grain storage by the local farmer. It’s not the first school turned granary that we know of and frugal farmers (are there any other kind?) have been known to do this any old building they can find. We’re not sure how long it was used in this capacity after the Odd Fellows moved out.
One thing we missed and hope to see if can make it back is some old scratched-in graffiti in the brick and stonework. So the names of students and the year they attended. That sort of thing. How they were overlooked is beyond us, but then we can get so focused on one thing that we miss others. It’s a curse and it’s been there for a long time.
The then image is a scan of an old postcard and is thanks to the reader – appreciate it Larry Stroobandt (2015). The postmark reads 1912, so we know it’s from very early on for both the town and the school. The building may have been brand new at the time and certainly looks it.
If you have an old family photo or old postcard (most are in the public domain) you think could be used this way, please reach out. We always love making these historic connections and sharing the results here with you all.
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Date of adventure: ca1912 and June 2015. Location: Netherhill, Saskatchewan. Article references and thanks: The book Memoirs of Hillsburgh (an incomplete copy), Provincial School Records, and Larry Stroobandt.
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