Fructova School - Grand Forks, BC
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 49° 01.113 W 118° 30.415
11U E 389822 N 5430611
The Fructova School, now a museum of Doukhobor history, is located at The corner of Reservoir Rd. & Spencer Rd., north about 850 metres from Highway 3 and about 1 km west of Grand Forks.
Waymark Code: WMG435
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 01/09/2013
Views: 3
"Formerly a schoolhouse called Fruitova School, this building was constructed by the Christian Communities of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) Doukhobors in 1929 using brick from the community brick factory located just below the school grounds. It opened that same year with Miss M.E. Tapping as its first teacher and 2 classes of mostly Doukhobor children from the surrounding community.
The school was initially made with 2 classrooms at either end and a teacherage in the middle, although the teacherage became a classroom in the following years. It served the district until 1949, when the students were finally taken by school bus to Grand Forks to attend Central Elementary School. The school gradually fell into a state of disrepair and remained so until the 1980's.
In 1984 close to $200,000 was spent to restore the building, which now serves the Doukhobor Historical Society [and houses their museum, known as the Boundary Museum - the Historical Society has since moved to other quarters]. The name of the new facility was changed from Fruitova to Fructova at this time to reflect proper Russian language usage. The term Fructova, meaning "fruitful", had been formerly used by Doukhobors to describe Grand Forks in general, in recognition of its sunny climate and agricultural productivity."
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The school house is now a British Columbia Heritage building. The museum houses displays and artefacts related to the Doukhobors' early years in the area. It has displays both inside and outside, the outside displays being predominantly agricultural equipment of the early twentieth century.