Sept 2019
Heritage Inventory – Hyde Park/Emberly/Kenneth. This month we are adding an inventory of heritage resources from the northwest corner of the RM of Dufferin. As we noted under Local Heritage > Communities “many ‘communities’ never had a post office, church or store but formed strong identities around the local school; names of former schools are still used by local residents to identify where they live.” The portion of Dufferin lying north of Roseisle was made up of three school districts, each with its own identity.
Hyde Park School on NW 3-7-7w was named by early English settler Joseph Smith. Long after it amalgamated with Roseisle School in 1911, the Hyde Park School remained the social hub of the district, hosting picnics, meetings and community activities. A local correspondent submitted Hyde Park news to the Carman newspaper. Soldiers enlisting in WWI gave their home address as ‘Hyde Park’. The Hyde Park Ladies Club continued meeting as a group until the 1950s.
Hyde Park Ladies, still actively meeting ca 1950
Hyde Park School was located three miles north of Roseisle on NW 3-7-7w. Named by a local family from England, this one-room log school served the educational and social needs of a vibrant community in the southernmost sections of Township 7, Range 7W. The school operated from 1895 to 1911 when it joined Roseisle School.