Hillsdale / Wye
District
Hillsdale School District No. 611 was
established on June 10, 1901. The first school, Hillsdale, was
built on SE-1/4-18-52-22-W4. In 1921 tragedy struck when the school
burned down. Classes were held in a building on Robert Bailey's
farm. A 3.5 acre site on SE-1/4-19-52-22-W4 was considered, but on
December 18, 1922 the decision was made to build the new school on
Wye Road on SW-1/4-29-52-22-W4. On February 16, 1923 the names of
the district and school were changed to Wye School District No. 611
and Wye School. The school was a multipurpose facility, including a
community center. In 1954, the school was closed when a larger,
more modern school was built on SW-1/4-30-52-22-W4. The new school
retained the Wye School name. For safety reasons the original
school was demolished in 1960. On October 30, 1978 Wye School
District No. 611 was dissolved.
In 1911, the Hillsdale Post Office, the
district's first post office, was started in Everett and Ruth
Ball's family home located on NE-1/4-18-52-22-W4. Ruth Ball was the
first postmistress. In 1912, it was discovered the name Hillsdale
Post Office was already in use in Alberta. Everett Ball and friend,
Charlie Finter, saw a deer on a mound and renamed the post office
Deer Mound Post Office. In 1917, the Kreamer family purchased the
Ball homestead and Emily Kreamer (daughter of Evertt Ball) became
the second and final postmistress until rural routes were formed in
the area.
In 1939, the Wye Community Hall was built on
SE-1/4-30-52-22-W4 with material salvaged from an old Edmonton
hotel. It became a very popular dance and community hall. In
February 1987, the building was deemed unsafe and was burned down
by the Strathcona County Fire Department. The newest community hall
was built c1955 on NW-1/4-19-52-22-W4.
The present hall's most recent
renovations occured in the summer of 2005, Alberta's Centennial
Year.