The Wingham Advance-Times, 1979-07-25, Page 17.,r,w_ .. .. . ,tea fy�r.n/• . ✓*' "+II/I4
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Advance -Tinge C;eoLennial Edit". IM—Par– S
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This picture was taken at the Wingham Public School in 1929. How many faces can you identify?
Education in Wingham
Continued from Page 2
HIGHER EDUCATION .
Alexander Walker 'taught fort•, The first attempt.- at . higher
four years after Miss Fisher anti cation in Wingham was the
was succeeded by Mr. Groves,
teaching of continuation classes
who later left to become principal
at the public school., However the
of the Wingham Public School.
necessity of a high school that
In 1926 the school was
offered not only continuation
remodelled and a basement built
classes (lower and middle) but
beneath the furnace room and
upper classes was apparent.
washrooms. It was also veneered
In 1905 John T. Currie was
in brick and windows added.
elected as county commissioner
Because the school was not
for East and West Wawanosh and
within the town limits it became
Wingham. He presented the
part of the Turnberry Township
proposition for a high school in
school area and was known as
Wingham to county council and it
Turnberry S.S. 11 until 1961 when
was passed.
the Turnberry Central School
In 1906 a board was selected
became the consolidated school
and plans begun for the high
for this area.
school. Several sites were con-
sidered and it was finally decided
the school would be built on five
vacant lots on the east side of
BUSINESS COLLEGES
Carling Terrace, south of John
The first business college in
Street, and a portion of Wm.
Wingham was established in 1901
Armour's farm east of these lots.
and was known as Sullivan's
The specifications for the
Business College. It was replaced
building were for a three-storey
by McLaughlin's Business
brick building 80 by 48 feet with a
College on the third floor of the
front and side entrance, two
MacDonald Block. George
large classrooms, teachers'
Spotton set up the Wingham
room, waiting room, hall and
Business College in 1905 in
cloakroom on the first floor;
competition to McLaughlin's.
three classrooms were on the
Spotton's college stood the test of
second floor and a large
time and survived past its 30th
'assembly hall on the third floor.
anniversary. For many years
The school was expected to
Mr. Spotton operated a chain of
accommodate 150 pupils. To
10 or 12 colleges in Western
cover the cost of furnishings
Ontario and he was elected
debentures for $15,000 were
member of parliament from the
issued for a 30 -year period.
i Wingham riding in the 1930s.
The first principal was John A.
Taylor, who came to Wingham
J
from the Dutton High School and
left in 19M to become an in-
s for In 1906 h h d thr
Pec e a ee
teachers under him: James
'
rthday
Workman, mathematics; Miss F.
Py B. Ketcheson, moderns and
English; and John C. Smith,
classics. For these four teachers
there were 112 students and fees
were set by form at $6, $8 and $10,
W'i*n9ham + om H or not the student was
Grum Huron County. There were
several continuation schools in
the area at Wroxeter. Brussels
a and Teeswater, but Wingham
! ++as the only one to offer third
Congratulations to the i form so many students came and
hoarded to get their senior
matriculation.
Town o Wing a rn As the area became larger the
enrolment increased and more
on yourMoldings were required. The
hoard decided to buy some 11-
100th BIRTHDAY huts from the Port Albert RAF
station; these were to' he ready
he September, 1947 The cost of
transporting and equipping the
From huts was more than 532,000, but it
greatly increased the space and
a Water Conditioning s"bject offerings. The huts
contained three classrooms. a
(Goderich) Limited home economics room, an art
rim, a large recreation room
and cloakrooms.
co The first efforts to consolidate
Goderieh Hanover Owen Sound these small continuation schools
%%ere not made until january.
1948, when the Wingham High
School Board became the
Wingham High School Area
Board. Mr. French was the
Wingham Public School Board
representative and was named
the first chairman.
In 1947-48 there were 192 pupils,
of whom 66 were boys and 126
were girls. The , principal, Mr.
Hall, was paid a salary of $3,500
and teachers' wages ranged from
$2,000 to a maximum of 62,600.
A new school was proposed in
1953 to accommodate 530 pupils.
The project was undertaken and
debentures issued in December,
1953, for construction costs of
$660,000. In December of 1954 the
H -huts burned and it was for-
tunate the pupils were able to
move into the new school in
January. The original school
building, which had not been
harmed by the fire, was sold to
CKNX for one dollar.
The school population con-
tinued to grow and by 1955 the
inspector's annual report
recorded 443 students on the roll.
By 1959 there were 585 students
and an addition became
necessary. A new section was
built at a cost of $225,000 and in
September of that year F. E.
Madill was named principal. The
board decided to build its own
vocational addition in 1962, ac-
cepted a tender of $816,365 and
set up an advisory committee to
help equip the new building.
In .1967 Grade 13 students from
Lucknow began to attent the
Wingham District High School
and the board was renamed the
Huron -Bruce Secondary school
board to include the area. All
Lucknow students attended the
school the following year and the
school was renamed F. E. Madill
Secondary School in recognition
of the man who had` been prin-
cipal since 1959.
In 1969 when the school came
under the jurisdiction of the
county board Mr. Madill resigned
to take a position as superin-
tendent of education. He was
replaced by Gordon Phillips, who
left in 1975 for a job with the
county board. That year Robert
Ritter, who had come to the
secondary school as a teacher in
1952. was named principal. He
had been vice principal since
1959 Ken Wood is now the vice
principal.
The. Wingham high school has
come a long way from its start as
a community school equipped to
service 150 students. With the
latest addition in 1968 it was
expanded to have ac-
commodation for 1,510 students
at all levels and in all streams.
GOLDEN CIRCLF. HOnL�
The secondary school p es
three levels of secondary
education and the public school
offers K to 8, with remedial help
and Power Learning, but there
are still students who are unable
to meet ttg, academic standards
of these educational institutions.
In 1958 the association for
retarded children was formed
and began planning to support a
school for the trainable retarded.
The Lions Club of Wingham,
assisted by the Blyth and
Brussels Lions Clubs, was in-
strumental in getting the school
started in September, 1958. Many
organizations and individuals
contributed funds to keep the
project going. The school was
named the Golden Circle School.'
The Masonic Hall, previously
used by the Kindergarten, was
rented to house the six half-day
pupils and their teacher, Mrs.
Lyllian Husser, who was paid
$1,500 per year. Each morning of
the week a different lady from
the community walddftln*Wo Se
school as a volunteer- helper. T
With help from the county, the
local Lions clubs and con-
tributions from other societies
and individuals, a building wan
purchased in 1960. Classes were
held all day for those over 10
years of age and -half days for
those aged six to 10. There were
eight students and volunteer help
was still required, but the
teacher's salary was raised to
$3,000•
In 1962 Mrs. Florence Reavie
became principal and in October"
of that year the Wingham Kin-
smen Club moved the school
from Shuter Street to a new
Continued on next page
EARLY NOTABLES—This old postcard shows George
Spotton, ThoMas Gregory and A. H. Musgrove, three of
Wingham's early politicians. Mr. Spotton ran a business
college here and was later elected to the provincial
legislgture; Mr. Gregory was an early settler and served as
mayor from 1909-10; Mr. %usgrove was a teacher and prin-
cipal of the public school who retired to enter politics In
1908. He was elected as member to the Ontario legislature
and held office until 1918 when he was appointed postmaster
for Wingham, a position he held until his death In 1940. The
tower of the town hall can be seen In the background.
( Photo courtesy of Mrs. Gordon Buchanan)