Another recent postcard I found was this one of the Assumption Street School. The building was later doubled in size and connected by a central tower and renamed Begley Public School.
Begley was always one of my favourite buildings to drive past. It just had that look of an imposing school structure. It was decided in 2003 that three older schools were going to be demolished and rebuilt: Begley, Benson and Campbell. Begley was first and after years of hard work, Campbell was saved, and is currently going a full restoration. Last I heard Benson was on hold.
The original section of Begley was located on the west half of the site, and as you can see compared to the postcard above, it was fairly original still.
At the time of the closure, Begley built in 1913 was the oldest school building in the city. Today that title belong to Ecole L’Envolée on Ottawa St. Housed in the old King George school house, it was built in 1914.
In March 2004, the bulldozers moved in and wiped away 91 years of history, and the new school was built and is open on the same site.
This is my neighbourhood school. I was sad to see this gorgeous old building go, and it would have been great if it could have been converted for another use and the new school relocated to another lot, but in terms of usability I don’t think it’s all that bad a thing for the kids to have a new, modern school. It looks like the classrooms have a lot more natural light coming in than they used to, for one thing. I’d like to hear how you feel about the new school building, actually. I feared the worst as we watched it being built but now that it’s done I don’t think it’s all that bad and, at least from the outside, there are some features I like (the angled supports for the overhanging roof, for one). I haven’t seen much of the interior yet though, just the foyer and a small gym (where we voted on election day).
I think that it is a shame the way these great old buildings are being thrown away and replaced by newer buildings that will never last anywhere near 91 years. Jodi mentioned that the new school would have had a lot more natural light coming into the classrooms. I don’t think that would be the case if the large windows in the original postcard had not been bricked in by some genious at some point. What a shame.
The real tragedy is that most of what’s being built to replace the old buildings that get demolished won’t last very long because they are made of cheap materials that deteriorate quickly.
I always thought Begley was a nice looking school and wondered about it’s history, thanks Andrew! I went to Gordon McGregor and Walkerville and have grown an appreciation for older style buildings and their design throughout the years. It’s too bad they have to rip down old schools (I’m sure McGregor and/or Walkerville will happen in 10-15 years) but when they build new ones in an architectural way to fit into the neighbourhood and history of the area it makes the end result more bearable. But I can’t wait to see what Campbell will look like when it is completed, hopefully they keep all of the old school features along with the new school design features that will keep students on the cutting edge of learning.
Wondered if there are any records from Assumption Street School. I attended in 1937 and 1938 hoping to get some school records for my family history
The new school with air conditioning and enery efficeint design reduces energy costs to half that of a comparable building.(Tax payers $$$$) the learning enviroment is so much better with out mold, mildew,safer design better and easier to supervise kids. I have been to the ‘New Campbell’ school and it seems like the children who could have been in a brand new school are getting cheated by having to attended an overhauled old building. I’m unsure of energy costs but I’m sure efficiency does not approach that of other buildings. Older schools might have been built to last longer but near the end of their lives the costs to maintain are massive. Walkerville is a perfect example of that, Landlocked and politically prevented from being moved or rebuilt. Enrolement and students suffer.
This is a response for Richard Kosty. Richard, the old records for Begley should be stored at the current school. I have been told by school board employees that all the schools are required to keep their original attendance registers and office record cards, but most of the schools have all these records stored in boxes with no filing system. You can only imagine how many students have been through Begley since 1914. I was also told by a secretary at Prince Edward School that all of their old attendance registers were destroyed around 2007, but I was able to obtain a copy of my mother’s office record card. For the schools that have been closed down, their records are kept in storage at various schools that have the space, or at Windsor Truck and Storage. However, most of the schools will not help you with your project. I have been working on a similar family project for the past 9 years, and I found that unless I got lucky and met the right person, I got no help or access. The usual reason was the Privacy Laws, but I suspect that most school board employees don’t want to take the time to help you out. As one principal told me, “We are in the school business, not the history business”. Keep trying though, for I was lucky enough to meet about 5 people who were like minded, and I will always be grateful for their help. Their assistance filled in quite a few holes in my family history. I hope this helps.