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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1968-03-14, Page 13• 1 1 ALL TES INSURANCE Donald G. Eaton Office In Ma'sonlc Block Main Street Phone 527-1610 : *Seaforth An Expositor Classified will pay YQU dividends. Have you tried one? Dial 527-0240. 20% OFF RINGS MEN'S AND LADIES' Birthstone Onyx Hemetite Signet Ansttt Jewellers Ltd. NOTICE Seaforth Upholstery will be closed for the Months of JUNE and JULY For Holidays For Complete INSURANCE on your HOME, BUSINESS, FARM, CAR, ACCIDENT, .LIABILITY OR LIFE SFE JOHN A. CARDNO Insurance Agency Phone 527-0490 : Seaforth Office Directly Opposite Seaforth Motors (On the occasion of the open, ing of the new auditorium ad, dition, of the SDHS on Novem- ber 16, 1954, an historical re- view of the school was prepar- ed by James R. Scott. Excerpts from the review, in Which the early days of the school are re- lated, are here reproduced.) By James R. Scott _The Seaforth High School• was organized January 7, 1879, twelve years after Confedera- tion, four years after Seaforth's incorporation as a town, and twelve years after the Public School was jiuilt. The Public- School is impor- tant in the High School's his- tory, not just because it is the source of a goad number of its students,but because, particul- arly during the tenure of Ed- ward McFaul, it provided ad- vanced instruction to those students who needed it long be- fore there was a separate High School building and staff. It can properly be said that the Seafortla High School had its real beginning in. the old, Pub- lic School. Boom Days in Seaforth But Seaforth and the sur- rounding district were exper- iencing a boom in the '70's. When times are good, classes are crowded and new schools get built, and in those years prosperity had come to Sea - forth. The growth of the town had been phenomenal. When the Huron Road was put through in 1828 the site of Seaforth. was regarded as undesirable swamp, worth nothing to the land -hun- gry influx of settlers which the new road would bring. Ten years later, when Harpurhey and Egmondrville were already started as settlement, all you could find in present-day Sea-' forth was a signpost, pointing to other places, and the corner was commonly known as "Guide • Post Swamp." When the rail- way went through in the 1850's, there were still only For Every Occasion 4. FLORIST 482-7012 • 61 Orange St. — Clinton iIIIIIiiIIMIIII111111111111111111.111111111 THE NEWEST "HUGGER" Customized CAMARO a • 1967 CHEV. SEDAN (new) A.T. Must clear, no reasonable offer refused. 1967 CHEV. IMPALA, H.T., SS, "8", A.T., P.S., P.B, Radio — Uc. H58929 1906 CHEV. BELAIRE '8' SEDAN A.T., Radio — Lic. E91652 1966 OLDSMOBILE SEDAN A.T., P.B., P.S., Radio — Lic. H58933 1966 CHEV COACH —1159429 1965 OLDSMOBILE A.T., P.B., P.S. and Radio — H58-314 1964 RAMBLER "8" 1159758 1963 CHEV. COACH A.T. — Lic. E92-690 1961 CHEV.. SEDAN — E98041 1962 FORD GALAXIE SEDAN A.T. Lic. E90-734 0 0 MARCH is Demonstrator Month, come in and test drive one of the Demo's at no obligation SEAFORTH MOTORS Phone 527-1750 Senforth Lot Open Evenings to 9:000.m. two buildings In Seaforth -- Andrew McKearnan's log tav- ern and a clearing of ten acres with a log cabin belonging to Christopher Sparling. Yet exactly twenty years af- ter that time, the settlement was incorporated, as a town, , and the Main Street looked very much the same as It does .today, except' for the Town Hall, the Commercial Hotel and a few business blocks erected later. In the twenty years after the coming, of the railway, Seaforth acquired three extensive salt manufacturing plants, three large flour mills, two foundries, two cabinet factories, two stave ,factories, two steam sawmills, six carriage factories, three pork packing establishments, and a flax mill. Besides this, the surrounding countryside had been cleared, log cabins had been replaced by substantial frame or brick houses, and, agriculture had be- come established as the domin- ant factor in the Huron County economy. Undoubtedly, Seaforth was ready for a High School. The First Buildings Just the same, they started cautiously. This was and is a canny community and it had already established, its pattern for building schools more than a decade before when they built the first section of the Public School. (Incidentally, that same pattern is still being fol- lowed in the present expansion program of the Seaforth and District High School). Like its predecessor, the Pub- lic School, the original High. School was simply an over- grown, lopsided four -room schoolhouse. It was built in 1878 and was ready for occu- pancy in the first week of Jan- uary, '79, when the school start- ed operations under the princi- palship of Charles Clarkson, B.A. Two other teachers, Jos - Oh Morgan and Fred T. Cong- don, made up the staff. Right from the first, education at the •secondary school level took hold in the district. Those Who Legion, Corner by Jack Holland H. W. Moyer Service Bur- eau Officer from London, will be at Seaforth Legion Branch 156 on March 18th, 1968 at 1:30 p.m. to give gkilled ad- vice on veterans' benefits to all ex servicespersonnel and dependants, Anyone with questions on War Disability Pension. War Veterans' Al- lowance (Burnt-out Pension), Treatment, or hospital care, L s urged to call OT write J. C. Cornish, Seaforth Legion Wel- fare Officer, vvho will arrange an appointment. USBORNE & . HIB - BERT MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE • COMPANY HEAD OFFICE - EXETER, Ont, Directors: Martin Feeney - R.R. 2, Dublin President Clayton Calquhoun R.R. 1, Vice -President Science Hill Wm. H. Chaffe - R.R. 4, Mitchell Tim Toohey RR. 3, Lucan Raymond McCurdy R.R. 1, Kirkton Robert Gardiner R.R. 1, Cromarty Agents: Hugh Benninger - • Dublin Harry Coates - - Exeter Clayton Harris - Mitchell Secretary -Treasurer: Hugh Patterson - - Exeter l'Olt ofeveitea INVITATIONS 0 ANNOUNCEMENTS 40 ACCESSORIES COME IN AND ASK FOR YOUR FREE BRIDAL GIFT REGISTER The Huron Expositor Phone 527-0240 Seaforth sought the Normal Scheel PI - 'trance, for eXample, averaged around thirty at that thne, with a eorreSPOnding docrease in numbers in the Upper same' echelon. gxaminations were not held in the school building, which was not large enough to accommodate them easily, but in the Town Hall — that is in the old Town Hall which stood in the square off Market Street, a block west of the present structure. , It was soon obvious that lar- ger accommodation would be required to meet the needs of the edueation-conscieus com- munity and one of the first les- sons which the board of those years learned was that the physical plant necessary for modern education is not ,mere- ly a niatter of classroom space. The original school building had no central heating, no gymnas- ium and no laboratory facilities. All these, it was realized, had to be incorporated into the new plans. The central heating was easy enough.and the gymnasitun was attended to by building a large, barn -like frame struc- ture 'behind the school. The lab- oratories were another matter. It was just about this time that the natural scipnces were recog- nized as a proper ingredient of higher education. No longer was it believed that a solid ground- ing in Greek and Latin roots was enough to make an all- around scholar. In this technol- ogical age it is hard to realize that less than a century ago the idea of a laboratory in the school waS a new and some- what revolutionary idea. The citizens of Seaforth did not y balk at it, but moved along with the newest views of edu- cation and decided to include . two science rooms in the plans for the school addition. One was the physical laboratory which was equipped with "a large as- sortment of instruments from the best makers in Canada, the United States and Austria" and the other was the Chemistry lab which included 23 tables and which served the students of Seaforth (with only minor repairs to the plumbing) for the next 50 years. Altogether the new school was a large, up-to-date struc- ture which was designed not only • to meet the immediate needs of the community but those of the future. At that time there were more class- rooms available than could be used and one of them was turn- ed over to the students for use as an assembly hall. This prac- tice continued — a classroom doubling as an assembly — right up until 1938 when yet another addition was put on the old school. Collegiate Status Even before the addition of 1887 was built and the school settled in to a half century of uninterrupted service to the conimunity, the character of secondary schooling in Seaforth had become apparent. The first headmaster, Charles Clarkson, was an unobtrusive but effec- tive teacher. One of nis early students,, who later became a distinguished Canadian Jurist, has written of the first princi- pal, "his easy manner of im- parting information was not fully appreciated by some of us while we were pupils., but I have realized since that he had the ability to teach without seeming to do so." He also had the capacity to • gather good teachers around him and dur- ing both the periods when, he was principal the staff of the school was 'composed of unus- ually sound men and women. J. C. Harstone, who was principal between Clarleson's two terms, was 'an active aggressive man who not only maintained and encouragedthe school's stan- dards of scholarship, but who was largely responsible for get- ting the school's athletids on an organized basis, thus laying the foundations for a long ser- ies of successful teams, especial- ly football. Between them., these two men confirmedthe pattern which was to be maintained without interruptio.n until the cataclysm Of the First' World War. Alter its expansion the school quickly became recog- nized throughout the province as one whose students were better grounded than average in the subjects on the curricu- lum and whose athletes could take their place in any com- pany. Naturally the status of the school was raised and it became a Collegiate Institute. In main- taining its fame, a large mea- sure of its success was due to the calibre of the principals who guided it — especially G. F. Rogers, who served from 1900'„until 1914 — and to the - teachers who staffed the var- ious departments. Among the early' teachers were many Who moved on to larger and More resporaible posts Or to the fac- ulties of normal schools or uni- versities. Among these were Messrs. Carruthers, Crawford, Anderson, Prendergast, Brown and Miller, and on the distaff side Migs Hilton — the first lady member to be appointed, In 1882 — Mrs. Kirkman and Miss Kirkwood. Once it was underway the school was in an eviable posi- Hon. It had fine faeilities, prin- cipals and Staff of outstanding qualifications and personality, and it served a community which believed in and supported the ideals of higher education. The personnel of the school $0ardao these years alwaY1 IluaUlnilyb"aellictiaymeonagntild enlagagrneusliStire nUngler, o xnen WIM ieek Pride and personal interest in the we/fare of the school. Indeed, it was by no means unusual in the early days of the school for a board member to visit a class and put the students through their paces. Among those who did this regularly was Dr. Coleman, who often dropped around to give the students an oral quizz in geome-. try. In addition, the board mem- bers made it a point to attend meetings of various school or- ganizations and to be on hand to support its athletic teams. At least two former principals are on record in acknowledging the tremendous help and en- couragement they received from the members of Seaforth's active school boards. An Era of Achievement With all the major factors of school life operating in its fav- or, it was inevitable that in -these years the Seaforth Col- legiate Institute would produce some remarkable results, and it did. • Once it was properly under- way, its record for winning scholarships in open competi- tion throughout the province was the envy of Western On- tario. One of the first of a long line of illustrious scholars of the school was the late, Dr. Charles MacKay, who consis- tently led his classes as a stu- dent and who later returned to serve on the staff as a teacher. After his teaching years he at- tended Trinity Medical School, Toronto, and became the first Seaforth alumnus to win top honors, and the Gold Medal in Medicine. This feat has been twice repeated by Seaforth scholars — Dr. Fred Clarkson and, Dr. Carl Aberhart, both gold medallists in medicine at the University of Toronto. It was during the first decade of the century, however, that the school experienced its aca- demic heyday. At this time the principal was G. F. Rogers, who later became Director of Edu- cation for the province. , Be- 1111111iEla 6veen, 1000 and 1914 there Wia practically, never a year when at least one of the major schol- arships offered in Ontario waa not captured by a Seaforth stu- dent. Twice in that period Sea - forth scholars placed first in the Upper School results for the entire province — Carrie M. Knight in 1904 and Brenton Kerr in 1913 -r– and twice Sea - forth men plaCed second in the province — Freeborn Johnston in 1906 and E. D. Whittaker in 1908. And these are only the most outstanding of a great number of students who brought honor to their alma mater in those years. .11111 HUR,01410TOSITOiL IIINFORT4 MAR0 1 100.43 Income Tax. Return% i'rep re Reasoole,Batof Ronnenburg insata40 :Agency . Phone 347-220 , 511010004 Anytime for AppOintment Brussels Office open Tuesday ;and,Fridey* phone 6$, Brussisfs WANT ADS BRING QUICK RESULTS: Dial 627-0240 Read the Advertisements — It's a Profitable Pastime 1 INDUSTRIAL * COMMERCIAL * SITE REPORTS * INSTITUTIONAL Kyles, Kyles & Garratt ARCHITECTS 247 John. Street South HAMILTON 527-1661 15 Downie Street STRATFORD 271-9230 6 Seaforth District High School We are pleased to have been selected for the Electrical Installations at the New Reconstructed School. We congratulate the Citizens of Seaforth and Area on the completion of the modern facilities they have made possible for the youth of the area. W. MacDonald Electric Co. Limited MARINE ELECTRICAL SERVICE Off. 1 AUTOMATIC HEATING EQUIPMENT POWER and'LIGHTING INSTALLATIONS Telephone 52A-7861 133 Britannia Road ; Goderiell, Ontario