Jennifer Fenwick Irwin found this at the Carleton Place and Beckwith Heritage Museum today.
The Leach School
A two story, fairly large stone building almost square, on slight rise of land at 24 Neil’s Lane in Carleton Place. It was composed of one large room upstairs and one downstairs. The covered stairs at that time ran up the far side of the building.
I had a Miss Laura Anderson and a Miss Clara Sherlock for teachers. I would be about 8 or 9 years old at that time. I remember one day Miss Sherlock gave me the strap for some reason, and blistered my wrist. My father gave her a piece of his mind.
Across the street on Moore Street was a small grocery store owned by a Mrs. Moore. She sold 1 cent candy and we would go over there at recess and buy some. Also nearby was the Burgess flour and feed mill, and Nichol’s planning mill was on the corner of Moore and lake Avenue. The trains ran nearby as Carleton Place was a busy railroad town at that time.
The Mississippi Hotel on the corner of Bridge Street and Lake Avenue had two other floors in those days and a verandah across the front. In the winter there was a good place to slide along the front of the building. It was a pretty rough and we would use pieces of cardboard to sit on.
We had spelling bees quite often, and sometimes I was one of the last standing there.
In the back of the school yard were bushes of lilacs. On the West side of Bridge Street was Captain Hooper’s house where the Service station now is.Today the Renwick Real Estate is housed there and Mrs. Moore’s store is also owned by Renwick.
Amen,
Norma Giles
P.S.
Further information from other people:
The gate shanty stood beside the tracks and this arm would come across the road when a train was coming. The guards name was Mr. Albert Chabot. Also some other teacher’s names were Maggie Sturgeon and 2 Miss Fyfes. Jim and Fred Welch were students there.
Thanks Jennifer!!
Author’s Note– I have just added this from Marj Whyte
Marg Whyte
Landsdowne Street was open but very narrow. The large stone building that is now Crain and Schooley Insurance was known as the Leech School and had four classrooms. While I was growing up, it was occupied as a home by the Romanuke family, the parents of Ivan (mike) and his sister Doreen. It stood idle for a few year and later Gordon and Mary Neil and a family of 7 lived there.
The lot at the corner of Lake Ave West and Landsdowne now Tim Horton’s was known as the BA Service Station and its fist manager was Lorne Campbell, father of Mrs. Harold Hughes. Different managers or employees worked there over the years and they were: Ross Ferguson, Bert Coleman, Eric Machin, Cha. Godfrey and Ab Cook.
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