Divide, Saskatchewan School House and Teacherage Photos & Info located in the old townsite of Divide, Saskatchewan and was closed in 1961

Submitter, photographs © Photos taken by Cody Kapcsos July 16, 2010.

Hello I have no history on this school house, other than it's located in the old townsite of Divide. Very glad I could help out a great cause. I believe I do have the road information, it's located in the extreme southwest region of the province so my road directions might be a little off (not many road signs in the area). I'll give you the directions heading west from Frontier.

Head west on Hwy. 18 until you hit range road 242 I believe??? turn north on that and keep going until you cross the train tracks, immediately after the tracks is a road with a cattle gate, this used to be called Railway Ave. where the grain elevators once stood. Turn west on that and keep driving until you reach some old buildings. Its a few yards to the north of Railway Ave. not sure what the road that it's located on was called, but it has been completely grown over and fenced off.

The school seems to be in great shape! Unfortunately because of the state of the roof the interior has began to really deteriorate, but it is still in really great condition. It would be interesting if the farmer would be willing to have it protected as a provincial heritage site and get grants to fix it up a bit. Not many left with teacherage and all still standing together.

Oh yeah, before I forget. The school house is located on private land so anyone that would like to have a look would have to ask permission from the farmer to the east of the school house (the farm on Rg. Rd. 242 after the tracks). He's very friendly, in fact he used to go to school there and has lived on the farm on the outskirts of town his whole life. He now owns the whole town and school and is the only resident left. I can't remember his name I believe its Jon... Hope this helps, I've also attached a Google Map link, as well as the Wikipedia article which states the coordinates are 49.39N, -109.25W. Best of luck!

Wikipedia article on Divide, SK

Google maps (Divide, Saskatchewan)

Webmaster Note:

There is no sign left on these buildings which shows in the photographs. Even though there is a school named Divide located near Reliance, these buildings were in the townsite of Divide. Divide Post office located at Sec.15, Twp.2, R.24, W3 and operated for Divide between 1914-03-01 and 1963-11-18. Bill Barry noted that the divide of the townsite may have referred to the boundary between the U.S. and Canada which is eight miles south. The local history book notes a creek on a nearby homesteaders land which marks the the drainage basin divide, but that occurs closer to the Divide SD near Reliance to the north. Near this location of the Divide townsite are three school houses according to the alphabetical school listing so far compiled....

SOUTH SLOPE School District # 3549 Sec Tsp 2 Rge 24 W of the 3 Meridian near Divide
MILDRED School District # 3778 Sec Tsp 2 Rge 24 W of the 3 Meridian near Divide
BENITA School District # 4674 Sec Tsp 2 Rge 24 W of the 3 Meridian near Divide

DIVIDE School District # 2894 is located north of this location Sec Tsp 5 Rge 11 W of the 3 Meridian near Reliance. Bill Barry feels that the Divide school was named after the divie between the Frenchman River and Swift Current Creek. Reliance P.O. nearby, opened first as Recklaw at Sec.32, Twp.4, R.10, W3 - 1913-05-01. Reliance Post office closed in 1968-09-30. Map is attached in image selections.



Title Geographic names of Saskatchewan
Author Bill Barry
Published Regina, Sask. : People Places Pub., c2005
"The information in this book has been extracted from People Places:
The Historical Gazetteer of Saskatchewan, the author's data base."--p.4
Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references (p. 475)
ISBN 1897010192 (pbk.)