Scotch Corners Union S.S. #10 School Fire

 

S.S. #10: Scotch Corners Union School  School Lot 2, Con 10 —Scotch Corners. The first school house was built of logs and was located on the corner of the property close to the 11th Concession to be more central.

The frame school house was built  in 1872 located in the same vicinity as the log house that was located just to the left of the frame school house, and nearer to the to road. Initially, they had decided to rebuild the school a mile farther down the road as that location seemed to be more centrally located because more people lived down by the lake then. Finally it was decided to be built just off Highway 7 where the log school had been built.

Glass Plate Negative – Inside a 19th Century Schoolroom
NLRM 2012.55.20-Almonte Gazette
19th Century —North Lanark Regional Museum
This rare photograph depicts the inside of a school house classroom in the late nineteenth century. A chalkboard and wooden desks are visible. This image was scanned from a glass plate negative from the Almonte Gazette archives.

The Scotch Corners Frame school house was built by  Charles Stewart and his son Dan, and the small porch was added by Andrew Bellamy and Thomas Ireton shingled the school. in 1907 they added an small addition to the school and in 1908 the school was hit by lightening but not seriously damaged.

Salaries for the teachers ranged from $200 a year in 1886 to $1800 in 1955.

The school was closed in June of 1959 and pupils were to attend Innisville School in Drummond for the following three years. In 1962 they were then transported to S.S.#9: Ferguson’s School.

Photo from the Carleton Place Canadian files from the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum

Bits of lumber is all that remained of the former rural school house located on Highway 7 east of Scotch Corners after a fire. The familiar landmark was destroyed in a suspicious November fire in the early morning hours in the 1990s. The old wooden frame was observed engulfed in flames and reported by a passing motorist. It was unknown whether the fire was started accidentally or if it was a case of arson. Police believed the old school was used as a shelter by transients.

 

Photos below from Scotch Corners Remembered by Lillian (Gardiner) McNab

1.In the days of the log farm boys took to smoking a pipe. One day the boys began smoking the pipe they hid in the hollow log of the schoolhouse at lunchtime. Each boy took his turn asking to go out until the teacher became suspicious, so no one else was allowed to leave their seat. Of course the pipe did not go out and by recess time the corner of the school was on fire.

2. After several years of reporting that the book on the rural schools of Ramsay Township is nearly finished, it has finally come to pass. Years ago Archives Lanark decided to document the history of the rural schools of Lanark County since the one room schools were amalgamated into larger schools by 1970 and many records disappeared when the Upper Canada District School Board was formed.

Hard Cover copies of several books are available

at Archives Lanark (near Drummond Center)

online at archiveslanark.ca

or from Marilyn Snedden at 613 256-3130