The Past
Businesses
Churches
Communities
Community Services
Entertainment
Ethnic Groups
Geography
Heritage Homes
Industries
Organizations
People
Schools
~ Ashton Creek
School
~ Enderby
Schools
~ Grindrod
School
~ Hupel-Mabel
Lake School
~ Mara School
~ North
Enderby School
~ Springbend
School
~ Trinity
Creek School
Transportation
The homesteaders built the first log
school in Mara in 1896. It was located by the
present Mara bridge on Riverside Road. The first teacher was Miss Dell. When the school
was first proposed there were not enough children to make it worth while to start a school
so three Finlayson children came down by train from Sicamous and resided at a Mrs. Gray's
house, bringing the grand total to seven students.
The second school was built on the same site as the third, which is across Highway 97A
from the north entrance of Riverside Road, in 1900. Until 1915, one teacher taught grades
one through eight in a single classroom. In 1917, the third and final school was built.
The land on which the two schools were built was donated by Sam Putula, an early pioneer.
Over the years the school served as a church, dance hall, and police
court. The school had different clubs and activities. Softball teams, jam cam curling, and
skating were popular. In 1948, the Community Club met and decided to provide hot soup and
cocoa to school children. This was started by Mrs. Edna Payne and was continued over the
years.
The Mara School was united with Grindrod School in
1920, but continued with grades 5 and 6 until the fall of 1973 when a Kindergarten class
was started. Kindergarten was moved the following year to the present Maples Tea house
location (about 200 meters North) and grades 4 to 6 were then taught at Mara with the
remaining grades at Grindrod.
In 1976, all grades except Kindergarten were move to Grindrod. When Grindrod received its
new school in January, 1984, the Kindergarten class was also moved to Grindrod.
After some sixty - seven years the Mara School had closed its doors for good, only to be
torn down a few years later, thus ending an era of receiving an education in the community
of Mara.
Jacqueline Baird, Craig Campbell, Colleen Giesbrecht
ALF School 1989