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Museum page

Mara had its first school built in 1896 out of logs. It was located near the St. Matthew's Church. Miss Dell was Mara's pioneer teacher in the first school. When this school was first opened there were not enough students, so three Finlayson children came to Mara from Sicamous. as Mara was the first school in the area. The three children lived with Mrs. Gray. Many of Mara's first social activities were held in this building.

The second school building was built at the present Putula Park site. This building was constructed in 1900, and until 1915 only one teacher was responsible for grades one through eight. and all in only one room. In 1917 another school building was built also on the Putula Park land. This building served as a school, a church, a dance hall, and even a police court.

The school in Mara had many activities including softball teams, jam can curling, and skating. Every year the school had a picnic, where everyone would eat ice cream and join in on the races. Every year the children held a concert at Christmas time in the Mara Hall. Santa was always present, with bags of treats and gifts.

In 1970 Mara School was combined with the school in Grindrod. Mara still had grades five and six, until 1973 when a kindergarten class was started. Then in 1976 all grades except kindergarten were moved to Grindrod. In 1984 the school at Mara was closed down. This ended 67 years of education in Mara.

Dawn Gerlib, Niels Konge, Kurt Schubert
ALF School, 1989