Nelson McIntyre Collegiate is located at 188 St. Mary's Road in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The neighborhood that the school is located in is called Norwood West which is a part of the city ward of St. Boniface. Nelson McIntyre Collegiate is a part of the Louis Riel School Division.

Nelson McIntyre Collegiate, or N.M.C. for short, was the only high school in the Norwood School Division. In 1998 the Norwood School Division amalgamated with the St. Boniface School Division. In 2002 the St. Boniface School Division was amalgamated with the St. Vital School Division and the new division was renamed the Louis Riel School Division.

The present building was constructed in 1956, and officially opened on November 16, 1956. In the early days of the school, it was called the N.K. McIntyre Collegiate. The facility stands on the site of the former Norwood Collegiate Institute. Before N.M.C. existed, a school called the Norwood School stood in its place. Prior to that, it was known as the Taché School from 1908 to 1927.

The school takes its name from the Norwood School Board chairman who died suddenly a week before the grand opening of the school was to take place. It was decided that the school should be named in his memory and therefore the school was named after the late Nelson McIntyre.

The gymnasium is named in honour of James W. Downey. Mr. Downey was the Superintendent of Norwood School Division from 1969 to 1980. The gymnasium was officially opened on March 21, 1977.

The first Merit Award was presented to S.E.Brock in 1928, and the oldest Nelson McIntyre trophy is the Norbridge Trophy presented by Frank Wade to the N.M.C. Badminton Club doubles, one for the boys and one for the girls in 1959.

In its history at the school has suffered from 3 fires. The first occurred on July 22nd, 1986. This fire was intentionally set and caused over 5 million dollars damage to the school. The school was rebuilt by September, 1987. The other fires were not as serious but still caused great damage to the Industrial Arts/Home Economics section of the school, completely demolishing a Clothing lab and a Graphic Arts lab.

75 Years of Secondary Education in Norwood: 1914-1989

Excerpts from an article by Mary Reid

Education has always held an important status in Norwood. Of course, with the changing times, there has also been many changes in education procedure. What has not changed is a sincere interest in education and in the students attending Norwood schools.

On August 26, 1908, Tache School, a stone structure of ten rooms and an assembly hall, was opened on Kenny Street on the site of the first school built in Norwood in 1902. Later, more rooms were added with doors facing Eugenie and Horace Streets. In the early days of the school, "Tache" enjoyed a very enviable reputation among the schools of Manitoba.

It was in September 1914 that high school classes commenced in Tache School. Grades 9, 10, and 11 were taught. Norwood students were permitted to take Grade 12 in one of the schools in St. Boniface -- the boys at Provencher School and the girls at St. Joseph's Academy. When space in the new school became limited, classes were taught in some of the houses near the school and also in the Salvation Army Hall on Marion Street. With the opening of King George V School in 1916, classes were no longer held in houses.

Each year, enrollment increased, so that by 1923 Tache High School had become very, very crowded. To accommodate Grades 9, 10, and 11, the auditorium was divided into three classrooms. The partitions were paper thin; so generally, students heard two other lessons as well as the one going on in their own classroom. Fortunately, there were very good Science labs, and well-equipped rooms for the French, Latin, Math, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Zoology, Botany, Spelling, Physical Education, and Music. The Commercial courses were excellent, especially designed to prepare students for employment in business offices. Departmental exams were written in all three grades. In Grades 9 and 10, students were required to write two or three exams, which were decided by the Department of Education near the end of the term. Students had to write exams in all subjects in Grade 11. A student was allowed one failure, which had to be cleared before continuing to the next grade. Otherwise, the full grade had to be repeated.

In 1925, the Norwood School District was formed with its own School Board. The inaugural meeting was held on January 7, 1925, with Mrs. McArthur as chairperson.

Due to the efforts of Mr. G. Rathwell, Tache High School was given collegiate status in 1927, and the name changed to Norwood Collegiate Institute. Grades 9, 10, and 11 were taught until 1939, when Grade 9 became part of the Junior High School. Because of the increased enrollment, and the criticism of unsatisfactory library and laboratory facilities, some thought had to be given to building a new collegiate. The School Board already had the deed for a suitable site on St. Mary's Road. Finally a new collegiate was built on this site, and was opened in September 1940. It was a temporary structure because of the shortage of funds due to the war. Grade 10, 11 and 12 were taught.

The School Board was most anxious to have a suitable building for Norwood Collegiate Institute -- so much time was spent in making plans and searching for ideas for such a collegiate. In 1947, Green, Blankstein and Russell presented their plans. The following year, the tender for the school was accepted, and the contract for the new school was signed in 1949. An attractive , modern collegiate was erected at 188 St. Mary's Road.

The official opening took place on November 16, 1956. The school was renamed Nelson McIntyre Collegiate, after one of the trustees who had worked diligently to make the new building a success. Grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 were taught until 1964, when Grade 9 once again became part of Junior High School. The new facilities made it possible to make many changes in the organization of the collegiate curriculum. The Home Economics, as well as the Industrial Arts departments were greatly improved.

So the years passed with many interesting changes in the various facets of education. Then came the "big bang". On Tuesday, July 22, 1986, the broadcast was heard that "an estimated $5 million fire had completely destroyed Nelson McIntyre Collegiate in Norwood". The fact that the fire started on the second floor and spread south along the roof indicated that arson was definitely involved. With the help of many students, all files and records were removed from the School Board offices in less than 45 minutes. The teachers were not as fortunate, for many of them lost years of important teaching material and educational information.

The official re-opening of Nelson McIntyre Collegiate, following the fire, took place on November 15, 1987. As the former building had been well insured, the new Collegiate was rebuilt to the most modern and up-to-date standards.