Hiawatha School

Hiawatha School District was formed in 1908, established on January 25, with George O’Dell, Nelson W. Scott, P. O. Sommers and Ernie Zang as its first trustees. The School board borrowed $800.00 to purchase a site and build a schoolhouse. The school was built in 1909, by George Edwards on the north side of Eight Mile Lake and had as its first teacher, Miss Margaret Meikle. Sixteen pupils attended when it opened, coming from the Carey, Diemert, Duncan, Hoffman, Sommers and Zang families. It was located on the SW quarter of 7-15-24-W4. Directions from Champion – West 6 miles on Highway 529 (along highway, halfway along curve around lake). Latitude 50.24892, Longitude -113.30013

Andrew and Louisa Diemert had five children, Emma, William, Walter, Ethel and Clara. The younger children attended Hiawatha School when it opened. Their first teacher was Miss Margaret Meikle.  Another child, Paul, was added to the family. (Clara married Hugh Frame and had a son, Alex, who began his education in the same school as his uncles and an aunt had attended.)

The three older children of Dave and Hannah Rice attended a little one-room schoolhouse across the lake bottom to the west and north of their home. Daughter, Elaine, believes it was Hiawatha. The family left the area to find greater educational opportunities for the growing family. They went to the Cardston area.

Daniel, Joseph and Cecilia Nelson attended Hiawatha and Auburn schools.

One incident remembered by Art, Roy, Ruth, Erma, Max and Cecil Swanson: Frances Rench and Gus (Dad) gave a dance at Hiawatha school after harvest was over and a blizzard came up suddenly and they all had to spend the night there. They pushed all the horses they could into the barn, took the blankets of those in the barn and covered the ones outside with them.

Annamae Fath attended Sherwood, a convent in Lethbridge, then, in 1914, Hiawatha. She completed her education there. Her first teacher there was a Miss Smith, who later became Mrs. Milt Moffat. Another teacher was Miss Boutillion, who later married Bill Bowie of the Alston district. Also a Miss Hill taught there and she is now married to Orrie Sommers of Champion. Her brother, Joe Fath, attended Hiawatha school and Fireguard school.

One of the trustees was Dick Clements after the school was moved from the north side of the lake to the south.

Ethel May McDougall was a teacher in the Hiawatha school and the Yale school. She married Karl Maeck.

Some of the later teachers were Miss Broadworth, Miss Smith, and Mrs. Milt Moffat. Many of the teachers boarded with the Sommers family.

Hiawatha was first located on the north side of “Eight Mile Lake” and operated “off and on” due to lack of students. In March, 1918 it was closed because of high waters. In 1930 it was moved to the south side of “Eight Mile Lake,” one and one half miles south, to the Champion -  Parkland road. (NW 7-15-24-W4) The Board borrowed $600.00 to purchase the new site, move the schoolhouse and outbuildings to the new site and recondition the building.

When consolidation of schools began, the Hiawatha School was moved to the Alston S.D. where it served as a Junior High School. Eventually it ended up sitting in the County storage yard, used for storage, before it was demolished.

Some family names of students attending were: Becker, Daub, Diemert, Fath, Ferguson, Gilfoy, Hill, Isaacson, Ivarson, Lee, Louckes, McDonald, Moore, Mueller, Rice, Sommers, Sullivan and Weiss.

Hiawatha Students - 1917. Doorway (L-R) Annetta Daub, Annamae Fath, Clara Daub. Middle (L-R) Mable Louckes, Hazel Cole, Dora Dietrich, Patricia Cole, Irvine Daub, Elmer Cole, Robert Cole. Front (LR) Grace Feber, Myrtle Louckes, Hazel Husted, Clayton Daub, Joe Fath, Harry Louckes, Bert Cole, Wilfred Daub.

More information about Hiawatha School may be found in “Cleverville Champion 1905 to 1970”  and “Champion and District School Reunion 1906-1961”, at the Vulcan and District Archives and from school directories (maps and driving directions) which are available at the Village of Champion Office, the Champion Pioneer Club and the Vulcan & District Museum.