An Article About the Lanark Schools — Mr. Joseph Tennant

 

Photo of SS 9 Rosetta from Lanark & District Museum

 

There was never any more to this article. NO matter how hard I searched I could not find the rest of it which is a shame. November 14,1965. If anyone has the rest of it please send it to me. Thank you.,

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun  Screamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record

The Jasper School House Fire 1980

1. The Grieg School– The Fire and Mrs. Pearl McCann

2. Scotch Corners Union S.S. #10 School Fire

3. Fire Drills, Loud Bells and a Whole Lot of Noise — Learning How Not to Burn in School

4. Did the Germans Start the Fire at the Portland School in 1915?

5. S.S. 18 Knowles School — Nearby to McIllquham’s Bridge

6. Be True to Your School–SS #15 Drummond

7. Middleville School Photos- Laurie Yuill

8. The Home Permit– School Records

9. Suspended Teacher —Appleton School 1931 — Miss Annie Neilson

   Ladies & Gentlemen- Your School Teachers of Lanark County 1898

   School Salaries of 1918

   The Fight Over One Room Schools in 1965!

So Which One Room School House Became a Pig Barn?

 

The flags no longer proudly fly above the former one room school house nor does the teacher ring the bell for recess. The teachers from the old, one-room schoolhouses deserve a lot of credit for the wonderful work they did under difficult working conditions in the days of yesteryears.

The teacher would try to have a lot of work on the blackboards for the various grades before the day began. As soon as the children were settled, they began with the recitation of The Lord’s Prayer as good Christian morals were very important to the folk in the community.

The older pupils would have their work laid out for them so they could work alone from blackboard materials while the teacher concentrated on the younger children who were more dependant on direction and explanation. The week’s monitors would have brought in a pail of fresh drinking water from the rusty old pump at the school well. The dipper would be in the pail and everyone drank from it, sharing whatever germs were active in the little community. Some older boy would put an extra stick of wood in the stove to warm the room up.

What happened to some of those one room school houses that once scattered Lanark County? By the 1950s, the days of the one room school house were numbered. The introduction of rural school busing resulted in school closures as sites were amalgamated for efficiency and cost effectiveness.

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  20 Jul 1979, Fri,  [First] Revision,  Page 3

In April of 1965 trouble was brewing and the pot was over flowing. Mrs. Nino Manzon of Carleton Place had been carrying on a paper war since January against the townships eight schools.  In 1965 Margaret Manzon’s children were attending Tennyson School in Beckwith Township. Declaring the rural one room school “antiquated”, she began a campaign to bring modern educational facilities to the area.

Most of them were sold at tender except the sole survivor of a one-room public school that once formed the backbone of childhood life in Appleton. The little brick schoolhouse in Appleton was leased by the North Lanark Historical Society for $1 a year. Tragically that beloved schoolhouse burned down in 1973– but was rebuilt and stands today as the North Lanark Regional Museum.

Most of the schools became private homes except for one located near Casselman. (Prescott Russell school board) That school which became a pig barn, and two in Leeds and Grenville were used as storage sheds. Most were snapped up for about $500 each depending on the location, age and condition. One sold for as much as $13,000,  yet one located on Dalhousie Lake waterfront property went for a mere $250. *That particular school house had sat vacant for 20 years. ( Please see Alice Gilchrist’s comment below)

 

*Dalhousie Lake School-

“yet one located on Dalhousie Lake waterfront property went for a mere $250. That particular school house had sat vacant for 20 years” can you identify this schoolhouse please. Not aware of any schoolhouse on Dalhousie Lake waterfront ….. closest I can think of is former S.S.#4 and it is a mile away from lake”. Alice Gilchrist

Author’s Note- I try to do a lot of research in my writings but nothing beats personal recollections. So I believe Alice..:)

 

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  20 Jul 1979, Fri,  [First] Revision,  Page 3

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  09 Jul 1980, Wed,  Valley Edition,  Page 3

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and Screamin’ Mamas (USA)

 

The Fight Over One Room Schools in 1965!

 

Sparks are Flying at Union Hall

SS # 5, Herron Mills school, which was originally SS # 5, Gilles Mills when John Gilles sold his mills to John Herron, in 1871.

August 10 1950– Almonte Gazette

ATTEMPT MADE TO CLOSE SCHOOL NO 3 IN UNION HALL AREA 2

Sparks are flying in the Union Hall section these days over action taken by the Ramsay School Area Board to close Number Three school which is located about half a mile east of the second line on the road leading into Almonte. Ratepayers up there declare that the first intimation they received of the Township Board’s contemplated action was an item in the published minutes of a recent meeting stating that action had been taken to close the school.

Union Hall built in 1857

What angered the people of Union Hall particularly was the decision of the Board to transport their pupils to Number 2 School known as Wright’s on the second line a few miles in the direction of Highway 15.  Irate ratepayers around Union Hall declare that they have 11 pupils ready to attend their school while the one to which it is proposed to transport the pupils has only six. They insist it is a case of the tail trying to wag the dog.

While the Township School Area Board has made no statement for publication it is understood that the object it had in mind was to save money through eliminating one teacher and other maintenance expenses connected with a school. Two indignation meetings have already been held in the Union Hall in connection with the matter. At the frist one nearly all ratepayers were present although Mr. Dave McIntosh, one of the trustees who lives in that section, did not attend feeling, it is believed, that people would be freer to discuss the situation if he was not there.

It was decided to appoint a delegation to meet the  Board and state the case for the ratepayers around Union Hall. But when a second meeting was called for the night of Civic Holiday, the Board signified its readiness to attend so no deputation was necessary.  Mr. J. W. Barber of Perth, Public School Inspector for Lanark was asked to be present but he said that in as much as the meeting was to be held on civic holiday he had made other plans. Mr. Bert Miller, Chairman of the Board, who lives near Wright’s School, a fact which the Union Hallers did not fail to note, and his colleagues on the Board, were asked a great many questions and there was much discussion back and forth.

According to people who were present at the meeting, the Board played its cards close to the chest and did not give away its hand by stating what it intends to do. Some think it may rescind its motion to close Number 3 School while others are of the opinion it will persist in its present intention.

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