The Eight Schools of Pembina
Pembina has had eight different school buildings in its history. There were three catholic mission schools 1818-1823, 1848-1859, and 1870. In 1871 a log school was built and used by the youth of Pembina. Pembina became the first recognized public school in the Dakota Territory in 1874 and was known as School District #1! In 1875 a true wood school was built and was first used in the school term of 1876-1877. This building was used until 1881. It was eventually bought and repaired by the Masons and is now the Masonic Temple. The original blackboards are still present in the building. This school had 117 students ranging in age from 5 to 21. The teacher was Mrs. Anne Winchester. Her salary was $105 for the term and she also received $35 for incidentals. Not only were the teachers expected to educate the students, they also were expected to do the janitor work too. In 1881 the sixth building was built because a larger building was needed. It was destroyed by fire in 1918. In 1919 a brick building was built and used by the Pembina School District until November of 1999. In the 1960’s an addition was added to this building that included several elementary classrooms and a gym. In November of 1999 the Pembina School District moved into its eighth and present school, it was attached to the addition of the 1960’s.
The citizens of Pembina have always felt that the education of their youth was very important. The staff and students of Pembina were facing the uncertainty of its very existence. Like most small towns in North Dakota, Pembina has a declining enrollment and faced the threat of losing its school. The citizens of Pembina were willing to do anything necessary to maintain a school in Pembina. On August 10, 2004, the citizens of Pembina, Neche, and Walhalla voted to reorganize the three separate school districts into one large one. On July 1, 2005, the North Border School District #100 came into existence. Walhalla retained Kindergarten through 12 grade, while Neche and Pembina combined their students. Kindergarten through 6th grade are housed in the Neche school and the 7th through the 12th grade are located in the Pembina school. The school district has one Superintendent and one school board.
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