CARNDUFF — On a plot of land about seven miles northwest of Carnduff stands an old one-room schoolhouse — Millions School #625. The school opened on April 17, 1902, at a cost of $625. Vi Day, a resident of Carnduff, attended that school until 1953. She was in Grade 3 at the time and would have continued her classes there, except that it closed down.
The following year, her father, Ray Bayliss, purchased the property, including the school, intending to use the land for grain bins. The school division at the time took all the furnishings, with the exception of a globe, a water-stand and a bench. It was completely empty.
In 1955, some dog trainers came up from the United States and used the abandoned school as their home for a summer.
As Bayliss erected the bins, he left the school standing. For a while, he even used the building as a bin.
Over the next 45 years, the neglected school fell into disrepair. Portions of the floor rotted out, shingles deteriorated and the walls and ceiling began to need repair.
That all began in 2000, when Bayliss’ daughter, Vi, and her brother, Walter, began a major restoration. Vi was not interested in seeing the school disintegrate into nothing. It held fond memories for her. As well, original schoolhouses were becoming a dying breed in Saskatchewan.
The rotted floorboards were cut out and replaced with plywood. Eventually, a section of hardwood flooring was put down, thanks to a discovery of supplies from Estevan’s Shop & Swap. This makes up about 40 percent of the flooring; the additional 60 percent is original.
The damaged walls and ceiling were replaced with new two-by-fours and rafters, covered with new drywall. They were repainted with the same colours from the days when Vi was a student there.
All the shingles were replaced at the same time, and a cairn was built by the roadside, providing information about the school.
The cost of all of this was in the tens of thousands and would have been much more had it not been for the sweat labour of volunteers — family, friends and neighbours — and the generosity of many in donating furnishings. For example, an antique bookcase was donated by the Glennie sisters, which is home to textbooks that were used throughout the years at the school.
The school has been further restored over the past year. New windows replaced the old ones, keeping the dust out, and the roof needed to be re-shingled again.
Inside the school are many items of interest. Old classroom attendance books, accounting books (teacher Marjorie Tollifson was paid $1,200 in 1953), old-style desks, maps, that globe that was left behind, an old school bell — these are just a few of the things on display. There is also a stack of what appear at first to be paint cans, but upon further inspection, they turn out to be lunch buckets.
There are even two indoor outhouses in the school.
Outside the school is another building — the coal shed. Coal was brought into the school daily to keep the furnace going on those cooler autumn and cold winter days.
Millions School is a great place to visit for those wanting to travel down memory lane and for anyone interested in seeing how previous generations lived. Schools looked a lot different 70 years ago than they do now.
Arrangements to see the restored schoolhouse can be made by calling Vi Day at 306-482-8485 or 306-482-3585. She’d love to show you what life looked like when she was eight years old.
