Allerston, Alberta

Allerston, formerly Allersville,^[1] is an unincorporated community in Alberta, Canada within the County of Warner No. 5. It is located approximately 25 km (16 mi) east of the Town of Milk River and 18 km (11 mi) north of the United States-Canada border on Township Road 24, 1 km (0.62 mi) off Highway 501.

All that remains of Allerston is a Roman Catholic Church and the Allerston Hall with baseball diamonds. The church was built in 1911^[1] and opened on July 28, 1912. The church is still in use today. It was moved to a new foundation 20 ft (6.1 m) to the north. There is a cemetery behind the church. The Allerston Hall is still use for the annual Fall Bazar.^[2]

Education

Sleepy Hollow School District No. 2634 was established January 25, 1912 at township 24-2-15-W4.^[3]

In the early years, there were many one-room schools in the area. The school district, by government standards, was to be four miles square, or a maximum of four miles by five miles, in consideration of the distance the children would have to travel.^[2]

In history of the area, there were the school districts of Kippenville, Milk River Valley, West Jura, Allersville, and Melfort. They were later amalgamated into the Foremost School Division.

Allersville School District No. 2202, located at NE-23-2-14-W4, was established on June 9, 1910.

Kippenville School No. 2080, located at NE-29-2-12-W4 was built in 1909 and later closed in 1924. It subsequently reopened on September 1, 1931 and operated until June 30, 1934.

West Jura School No. 4931, located at SE-7-3-13-W4, opened in 1938 and closed in June 1941.

Melfort Consolidated School District No. 29, located at NW-34-2-14-W4, opened in 1916 and closed in June 1941.

Milk River Valley School District No. 2024, located at NE-28-2-13-W4, was established in January 1911.

In 1915, the number of children in the area warranted the formation of a school district. The district consolidated with three established school districts (Jura No. 3254, Broadlands No. 3255, and Milk River Valley No. 2024) to become the Milk River Valley Consolidated School Districts No. 11.

In 1941, the Milk River Valley Consolidated School Districts No. 11 was included into subdivision No. 5 of the Foremost School Division No. 3 and named Masinasin School District No. 2024.

In 1942, the Melfort two-room school was moved and attached to the Masinasin School to open a three-room school. In about a year, the West Jura School building was attached to the Melfort School, which upgraded the Masinasin School to a four-room school.

In January 1949, a fire destroyed The Melfort-Jura building. Three other schoolhouses were moved in to serve as a school until a new school was built in 1950. In 1953, the Masinasin School District was incorporated into the County of Warner No. 5.

The Masinasin School only taught Grades 1 to 8. Students in Grades 9 to 12 were bussed to Erle Rivers High School in Milk River. Ths school closed sometime in the 1990s, resulting in all students being bussed to Milk River.

Attractions

Writing On Stone Provincial Park

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, is one of the largest areas of protected prairie in the Alberta park system, and serves as both a nature preserve and protection for the largest concentration of rock art, created by Plains People. There are over 50 rock art sites, with thousands of figures, as well as numerous archeological sites.

See also

• List of communities in Alberta
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary

References

1. Alice A. Campbell (1959). Milk River Country. Milk River Old Timers Association. pp. 232, 307. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
2. From Sandstone to Settlers: Writing on Stone District History, 1900–1983. Masinasin Historical Society and Masinasin New Horizon's Society. 1983.
3. Sleepy Hollow School District No. 2634 - Pioneering with a piece of chalk : the one-room country schools of Alberta, 1885-1982 - Page 495