Scarborough School Days

When someone thinks of Scarborough Ontario today they envision subdivisions and strip plazas. However, Scarborough began as a rural farming community and remained that way well into the 20th Century, It was definitely rural when my grandfather William Thomas Brooks and his brothers were growing up early in the 1900s.

Here they are with their classmates in 1906. But more on this picture later. The Brooks family resided on a farm located in the community of Brown's Corners, one of many small communities that no longer exist. Brown's Corners was located at the corner of Finch Avenue East and Markham Road, named after David Brown who ran the post office on the southwest corner.  

Bill and his brothers John and George attended S.S. #3, also known has C. H. Berner School. The school was located at the corner of Finch Avenue East and Neilson Road and was a 1 km walk from the family farm. The school was opened in 1872, replacing an earlier school that was located on the same site, first established in 1847. You can see the SCH noted in the middle of this map.

Historical Atlas of York County Ontario, 1878

S.S. #3 was your classic one room schoolhouse, though it later received an addition. Here is a photo taken in 1896 at the time of Scarborough's Centenary celebration.

All grades were taught in the one room and about 30 students attended at any one time. I found this undated newspaper clipping in my grandparents' papers. The picture is also featured in the book published by Jean Little to commemorate the school's 100th anniversary in 1972. The photo in Jean's book did not identify any of the students but I was fortunate that the newspaper clipping did.

The clipping indicates this is the class of 1904, the book 1906. I think 1906 is the correct date as my great-uncle George was not born until 1901. So my grandfather, second from the right in the first row would have been 11. He is holding George's hand - he would have been 5 and John, 5th from the right would have been 9.

This school was important to the Brooks family, My great-grandfather was a trustee of S.S. #3 from 1909-1911. My grandfather attended the 100 year anniversary celebrations in 1972. I found the program in his papers.

The school closed not long after this reunion. It still stands in its location at Finch and Neilson, now part of a private Christian school.

My grandfather would have been near the end of his formal education when he graduated from C.H.Berner as the school would have only gone to grade 8. The first high school in Scarborough, Scarborough High School (now R.H. King Academy), was not built until 1922. The Brooks boys would have returned to work with their father on the farm.

But Bill's quest for education didn't end. As I've written before he eventually became a bookkeeper. To achieve that position he moved to Toronto and returned to school to continue his education. He attended the Central Business College located in Riverdale at Jones and Gerrard. I don't know how long the program he took lasted but he did well as shown in this summary of his marks.

He completed his program in 1914, not long before he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and headed to France.

Among his prize possessions were these textbooks that he used in his studies. I love the ornate signatures. Handwriting is certainly a lost art!

I wonder how he would have done if he had a chance to attend university. Given the times, the Scarborough school boy did not too badly.

Manitoba School Days

Everyone's heard the story that begins "When I was a child I had to walk 5 miles up hill through a snow storm to get to school" or something like that. Well, my mother has a story like that and it's true! She and her siblings had to walk about 5 km up and down hill and through a ravine and by a creek to get to school in another province! Here is a picture of my mom in front of the school - she's the girl to the far left, in front of her brother Art. He must be poking her or something, she looks terribly unhappy!

From the writer's collection

I've written before about my mother's family and how they settled in MacNutt Saskatchewan. They actually lived a fair distance out of town and could not easily get there on a regular basis. There was a school located in town but this was not the school that the Besler children attended. There was a much closer school located in Manitoba!

The following map shows where my grandfather's two sections were located and where the school was. You can see MacNutt on the map way to the south of the Besler property.

Created using lsdfinder.com

The children attended Cupar School No. 1633. The one room school house was built in 1911 and is located in what is today the Municipality of Roblin. Here is a photo taken by School Inspector R. J. MacKenzie, date unknown. I don't recognize anyone in the photo but it gives you a good look at the school itself.

Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photos.

The Besler family walked from their farm to school and back every day. There were not real roads back then which made for a tough journey. My mother recalls a bear sighting one day when she was quite young - her older siblings took off and left her to fend for herself. Luckily she made it home in one piece! The teacher at the time was a Miss Campbell who was teased unmercifully by the farm boys - they called her Miss Camel and one day locked her in the outhouse (my uncle Art apparently was the instigator)

The school is still standing but has been turned into a private home. We were able to find it during our vacation this summer but no-one was around so we weren't able to get too close. Here's a picture I shot through the trees. The location is isolated now so I can only imagine how isolated it was back in the 1930s

The Beslers moved to Winnipeg in 1936 and my mother continued her education at Victory School located near their home in West Kildonan. This school was built after World War One and opened in 1920. Here's a picture from 1922.

Winnipeg Tribute, September 16 1922

Here's my mother and her classmates outside the school. She is 6th from the right in the second row. The second picture is from the pageant at this school, probably in her last year. She's fourth from the right in the second row.

From the writer's collection

And here's my mom visiting the school in 2012. We were able to go into the school but the school was drastically enlarged in 1950 and she really didn't recognize anything. The main door looks to be the same though!

In 1940 she graduated from Victory School - here's a notice from the Winnipeg Free Press on June 1st 1940 commemorating the occasion.

newspaperarchive.com

As the article note students from Victory School moved to Centennial School for Grade 10. Centennial School was built in 1913 and later became part of West Kildonan Collegiate. Unfortunately I was not able to get a picture before it was torn down but here is an undated picture showing what it looked like.

Source: A Historical Study of Public Education in West Kildonan to 1959 by Raymond Ronald Bailey, 1966

Later that year my mother's class was photographed for an article in the Winnipeg Free Press that ran on November 14th 1940. She still has a copy of this article showing the cooking and sewing skills being mastered. She is second from the right in the cooking photo. Answer to a bachelor's prayer indeed.

newspaperarchive.com

My mother only spent a brief time at Centennial School before she had to enter the work force but she remembers her school days fondly. She has never stopped learning and conveyed her love of reading (and sewing!) to my sister and I.