Homecoming '87, 1987-07-01, Page 9Homecoming '87_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1987. PAGE A-9.
‘New’ school
now 26 years old
To many people in Brussels it’s
still the “new” school so it’s hard
to imagine that it is 26 years since
the Brussels Public School was
opened.
The modern school opened in
1961, replacing the majestic two-
story, turreted building that had
served the young people of the
community for 65 years.
The official opening of the school
took place on Friday, January 20,
1961. Thecornerstonehadbeen
placed on October 12 of 1960 by
Frank Mitchell who was the senior
member of the school board and a
past chairman.
The opening was a two-part
ceremony. In the afternoon at 3
p.m. there was a ribbon cutting
ceremony for the children at the
school. Teachers and pupils as
sembled at the old school and
marched, led by the Brussels
Legion Pipe Band, to the new
school. School Inspector J. H.
Kinkead cut the ribbon then briefly
addressed the students in the
auditorium. The students were
then dismissed to their classrooms
Medical Centre self-sufficient
Continued from page A-8
brought nibbles from nine provin
ces and meant lots of letter writing.
There were particularly a lot of
letters from western Canada, Mr.
Stretton recalls. Despite all the
letters, nothing developed. Some
suggested trying Britain and an ad
was placed in the British Medical
Journal which eventually resulted
in a doctor moving to Brussels,
although his stay was short.
Early results in attracting both a
doctor and a dentist to the village
proved disappointing, Mr. Stret-
tonrecalls, but eventually good
people were found to come and
serve and be part of the communi
ty-
A woman’s
place
‘ ‘The farmers say it is hard to get
up and go to work, but they forget
that when they got to the stable, to
feed and rub down their horses,
while us poor women are allowed to
sit out on the cold wet grass and
milk our cows, or turn a pail upside
down to sit on. When we come in,
the men, sitting by the fire, are
warming themselves, but if there is
no wood, they wait patiently until
wecometogetitforthem. What
patient creatures men are! Then
they growl about breakfast and talk
about ploughing and threshing and
everything but splitting wood, but
thus the world goes - and truly the
poet has said: ‘It takes much to
makealady, butfar more to make a
woman.’ ”
[An actual quote from a Morris
Twp. woman, published - anony
mously, of course! - in The Huron
Expositor [Seaforth] in 1887, and
unearthed by Jeanne Kirkby of
Walton as she researched her 1981
book, “Morris Township, Past to
Present.”]
and parents and friends were
welcomed and given tours of the
school.
That evening at 8 p.m. the
official opening took place. Among
those attending were Mr. Kin
kead, L. E. Cardiff, M.P., John
Hanna, M.P.P., members of the
Brussels, Morris and Grey coun
cils, school board members, mem
bers of the clergy and representa
tives of Wingham District High
School.
Members of the school board in
charge of construction were Rev. L.
Brown, chairman; Jack McWhir
ter, L. Ebel, G. Stephenson, F.
Mitchell and R. W. Kennedy.
Total cost of the building was
$130,000.
In 1966 an addition was built on
the school to accommodate stu
dents from the surrounding town
ships who had previously attended
one-room school houses.
There have been four principals
since the school was built in 1961.
Kenneth Ashton was the principal
when the school was built then
there was a short period when Wm.
The Stretton family’s contribu
tion went even farther than just
helping build the Centre. They
gave a home to one doctor until his
family arrived and when, in 1969,
Dr. R. C. Culbertplacedanadin
the Brussels Post announcing he
was starting a dental clinic in the
new building, the numer he used
for his first appointments was the
Stretton’s home number. Mrs.
Stretton took appointments for a
month before the practice was
properly set up.
With his work taking him out of
the community a lot, Mr. Stretton
had to pull back in his work with the
Centre once it was built. Other’s
continued the work. Eventually the
loan was paid off and the building
was turned over to the village.
MAYOR: John A. Balfour
REEVE: Bee Cooke
DEPUTY REEVE: John Cochrane
COUNCILLORS: Case Buffinga, Ross Carter, Gord Gerrits, Gord
Yohn, Don Eastman, Bonnie Jewitt
CLERK TREASURER: Marie Jefferson
DEPUTY CLERK TREASURER: Kenneth Holmes
THE CORPORATION OF THE
TOWN OF CLINTON
Happy 115th Birthday
Brussels
from your friends in Clinton
On behalf of all the citizens of Clinton we are pleased to extend
to the citizens of Brussels congratulations on your 115th Birthday.
This majestic, turreted building, built in the late 1800’s, was the Brussels Public School until it was
demolished after the opening in 1961 of the “new” school which serves the community today. The picture
is from a postcard owned by Lloyd Wheeler of RR 1, Ethel.
Black supervised the school then
Ken Scott spent 19 years as
principal before James Axtmann
took over last year.
Two people long associated with
the Brussels School retired last
year. Mary Huether taught at the
school from 1967to the present and
Ralph Pearson was a bus driver of
students going to the school since
Sept. 1972.
Today the Centre is run by a
board of directors. Jim Cardiff is
the chairman, Dave McCutcheon
the secretary-treasurer, and Betty
Graber, Cec Moore, Jack Cardiff,
Bill Turnbull, Fred Uhler and
Cathy Workman representing the
village and surrounding town
ships.
The centre is in sound financial
shape, Brussels village clerk-trea
surer Hugh Hanly reports. The
organization is now self-financing.
Best of all, medical and dental
services, once missing from the
village, are now taken for granted
as part of the life in the community.
Without the work of a lot of
community-minded people 20
years ago, however, life would be
much different today.
On your 115th homecoming!
STANDARD
TRUST
Tel.: 357-2022
237 Josephine Street, P.O. Box 850
Wingham, Ontario. NOG 2W0
VILLAGE OF BRUSSELS
On your 115th
Birthday Celebrations
The Council and the citizens of West Wawanosh Township
extend Best Wishes to the residents of Brussels.
Township of
West
Wawanosh