Elkhorn Indian Residential School (IRS) (Washakada Home for Girls and Kasota Home for Boys) was initially located on four town lots in the village of Elkhorn (1889 - 1895). A new IRS was situated about a quarter-mile from the town of Elkhorn, 197 miles west of Winnipeg, on PTH 256 south of the TransCanada Highway just east of the Saskatchewan border. The IRS was in operation from 1889 - 1949 (60 years).
Other names identifying the residential school include Homes for Indian Children; Washakada Home (girls) and Kasota Home (boys) (1889 - 1895), Washakada (Indian) Home/Industrial School (1889 - 1918), Elkhorn Institution/Institute (1892), Elkhorn Industrial School (1895 - 1918), Elkhorn Indian Residential School (1924 - 1949), and St. Mark’s Anglican Indian School (1945).
The Government of Canada was responsible for funding the school which was managed and operated by the Anglican Church except for five years from May 1, 1918 - September 1, 1923, due to the lack of a financial agreement. From 1889 - 1918, the Church of England was in charge; from 1923 - 1949, the IRS was operated by the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada. The Elkhorn IRS closed in 1969.
Grades taught at the IRS from 1890 - 1929 were primary and elementary, and from 1930 - 1939 included junior high school. Information on grades taught could not be found for the period between 1940 -1949 except for academic year 1944/45 - grades 1 to 9 and 1947/48 - grade 2 only. During the 1940s, students also attended local schools in Elkhorn for grades 8 and 10. Student enrolment at the IRS increased from 49 in the 1890/91 school year to 95 in the 1894/95 school year then was relatively constant from 1895 - 1924 with a few high enrolment years. From 1924 - 1946, enrolment was consistently over one hundred students with an average of 135 and a high of 168 in the 1929/30 school year in five-year increments. There were no students for the period from 1918 - 1923 due to school closure for administrative reasons. No information on student enrolment could be found for 1939 - 1942 and from 1946 - 1949 when the school closed. Total enrolment for the IRS except for the missing six years was 5,158 students.
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2010 - 2015