Bay Island One Room School (1919-1950)

Middle of Nowhere: a place far away from other people, houses, or cities (Merriam-Webster). Many spots in Saskatchewan are in contention here! Today’s subject might just claim that proverbial title, and it’s pretty far removed from everywhere. There are people in the area – just not that many – and over a rise something that speaks their presence comes into view. It’s old too. That’s Bay Island School ahead, and we’re going to show you around. 

It’s a forgotten kind of place, but we know there’s history to share, and that’s what we’re here for. Despite a downpour and driving wind, it’s time to pay it a visit…a second visit. The first happened a decade ago, and when comparing old photos from then to now, it still looks much as it did. That’s all nice, but time is the enemy and marches on. It might be a memory another ten years hence, or who knows what.

This post is a do-over from one done ten years ago, with a mix of old and new photos, plus updated info.

It’s the archetypal one room schoolhouse, tiny and quaint, but with a once important purpose. Located on a small knoll, in area of rolling grasslands, fields, and pastures, it’s doubtful many people passing by notice. Or give it a quick glance and continue on. It’s so small and insignificant after all. Not that there’s much traffic on this highway anyway, and we only saw a couple vehicles the entire day. 

Bay Island School may not be big and impressive, but that’s not important. We’re touching on its connection to the people that lived close by and worked the land. It’s here the children of these local ranchers and farmers learned their ABCs. The diminutive size changes nothing, and it’s about a legacy. 

Officially, it’s Bay Island School District #4362 and one of thousands that once operated in Saskatchewan. These were located anywhere people lived, no matter how small the population or how remote. 

With travel at the time hard and slow – roads were somewhere between bad and horrendous or nonexistent altogether – meant they needed to be close by the kids. The legend of a ten mile walk to school is often repeated, but usually an exaggeration. Most of the time anyway. Often stated as uphill too, with mountain range after mountain range to cross and blizzards, bears, plus a myriad of other hazards. It’s amazing they survived!

The local area never had a big population, and things are no different today. It’s a lonely and forgotten corner of the province. There are and were no real towns of any appreciable size close to the school. Old Wives, a couple clicks away, never grew to be more than a whistlestop on the old railway line. The tracks are long gone, but the roadbed is still easily followed. 

Bay Island School opened in 1919 and closed in 1950. With the coming of better roads after World War Two, it proved easier to consolidate many districts into one, and with that most one-room schools closed. It’s what happened here, and afterwards students were sent elsewhere. First to the school in Old Wives and after the mid-1960s, bussed to somewhere not said. There are not many towns in the area, so Courval or Corderre perhaps?

Rural schools might also be used as meeting halls, and some doubled as churches. A picture showing a Sunday service taking place at Bay Island in the 1920s turned up during research, so the latter happened here.

A potbelly stove kept the building warm. Wood is understandably pretty scarce in the area, so coal brought in by the railway was used instead. An outer jacket surrounds the stove and functions as a rudimentary safety feature to protect anyone from getting too close to hot surfaces.

Given the (likely) drafty nature of the building, it’s probable there were cold spots during brutal Saskatchewan winters. Those close by the stove must have baked , but if further away they likely had to bundle up or risk freezing off appendages. 

Pictures of the school while in operation show the student body numbered perhaps eight or ten children. Presumably all grades were taught as needed. Kids came from nearby homesteads and travelled on foot, by horse or horse drawn conveyance. So wagons or sleds in the snowier months. Given the typically large size of families in the old days, it’s probable many students were related. 

Large windows helped illuminate the building interior, and lanterns used when things got dark. No electricity here, and you did your business in an outhouse out back of the building. The back side of the school is not as photogenic as the front, incidentally.

Note the old flagpole and remains of green paint inside and out. Words of wisdom are written on the old chalkboard but so many things on this recent visit were of a obscene nature that we didn’t share any new photos.

The old stove is missing some pieces since our last visit but that’s hardly surprising. There’s still ashes from its last use in the ash pan. While more faded now, the old signage above the door is still legible. Shutters that protected the building on that earlier visit are now gone.

Inside, there’s a mud-room at the front and the remainder of the space is taken up by the one classroom. Much plaster has fallen off since 2014 and there’s more bird poop, but that’s about it for change inside.

Naming conventions: it comes from a feature on nearby Old Wives Lake called Bay Island (Isle of Bays on some maps).

An historic plaque placed near the building in 2005 and seen during our visit in 2014, appears gone now. Stolen or perhaps fallen off? We didn’t see it the grass but it might be easily obscured.

At the peak (1920s) there were more one room schools in the prairie provinces than could be counted. Records are confusing, but approaching nine thousand seems an agreed upon total. That’s about five thousand for Saskatchewan with the rest divided between Alberta and Manitoba. Roughly, and some counts say less but others state much more.

Most one room schools closed by the 1950s but a few lasted longer on account of special circumstances. Remote locations and the like. Not many survive today.  

Of those not torn down, some are historic sites, with a number moved to museums. Farmers often bought the buildings as surplus to use as a shed or granary. Sometimes they were used where built and other times moved to the farm. Others, like here, ended up abandoned and forgotten.

Bay Island: school’s out not just for summer, but forever.

Know more: (new tab): Prairie One Room Schools and Old Wives Saskatchewan.

They’re saying…

“You have more energy and dedication than anyone. This is a magical website! Johnny Deutch.

Keeping it awesome…
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Old Slocan Highway by the Lake.
Alone in the Gulch.
Retro Motels: Medicine Hat Alberta.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: June, 2024.
Location: Rural Sasakatchewan.
Article references and thanks: Book – Rolling hills Review 1840-1980, the Saskatchewan One Room School Project and Rob Pohl.

2014

Welcome to Bay Island School – the plaque is now missing.

Opened in 1919 and closed thirty one years later.

The back side is not as photogenic.

Bay Island School District #4362, S.28-T.14-R.29-W.2nd.

Previous visitors have left their mark.

2024

It still looks much as it did from our first visit.

A stove provided heat and windows light.

There’s still ash in the ash pan.

One can look in any direction and see forever.

Note the faded green trim.

It sits atop a knoll in the literal middle of nowhere.