Weston Collegiate Institute - Conning Tower Yearbook (Weston, Ontario Canada)

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UNDER TWO QUEEN A highlight of our centennial weekend was the address entitled Under Two Queens given in the auditorium Saturday by Dr. F. D. Cruickshank, a member of a pioneer Weston family who is an authority on Weston's schools - he was a member of the Board of Education from 1926 to 1951 and its chairman in 1931, 1932, and 1933. We regret we have not sufficient space for all of Dr. Cruickshank's address, but a portion of it was as follows: The Old School was conceived and born only after many months of discussions, which at times were tinged with some bitterness. This was an era of Church of England operated schools in the old country and in America, and in some quarters it was considered ill-advised and ill-mannered to suggest free public education. Why was Weston important enough to warrant the first Grammar School in the County of York, West of Yonge Street? In 1790 the beautiful valley of the Toronto River, Clater called the Humberl was the main avenue of trade between the Lake and the Huron country. A survey party from England, alert for pos- sible Indian hostility, made a scientific study of the geology and biology of the Humber Valley and water shed. They carefully documented the flora, fauna and fossils foimd, and were immensely im- pressed by what they saw. Seven to eight miles from the mouth of the river the party came upon a stretch of the finest timber and land they had seen in Upper Canada. Here, were Stately oaks, so valuable in ship build- ing, and mile upon mile of white pine. They were agreeably surprised and intensely interested in their discovery. The deputy surveyor general, knew from a world wide experience, that white pine of such excellent quality, only grew where the soil was very rich. Apparently for the time being the survey stopped here, and the findings were conveyed to John Graves Simcoe without delay. The new Governor, recently arrived from England, lost little time inspecting the district on foot and in the saddle. Xbf 'F ,fl 1 -Q NON S 123 H sf' - 1. Now va 'PTR 1 A ur 0 UQ 'N 3 cv sr' . N A GRVJMAS n v tag- woo E L NI ST S lfl Ll U Location of Weston Grammar School lfrom an old muol IO The Governor's acreage was later to become the site of our early Village of Weston. Simcoe was also so endeared with the beautiful Indian River, that he had it recorded on the survey draw- ings as the River Humber, after its namesake in the North of England. To-day the Simcoe Farm is mostly incorporated in the Town of Weston. John Countryman, one of the survey party, became our first industrialist. He erected a saw mill at the bend of the River, on a site just north of the railway bridge, where it presently cuts through Weston Golf and Country Club. This same year, 1794, Joseph Holley a Menno- nite Bishop and a devout Loyalist, arrived in Toronto after a long trek from Philadelphia, and after hearing about all the glories of the Humber River Valley, took up a large tract of land ad- joining Governor Simcoe's holdings. This Hamlet of ours, on the River Humber, got off to an auspicious start, with a Governor of Upper Canada, and a Bishop being the first land owners. James Farr was recently out from England, and it was he who gave the growing hamlet, on the west side of the Humber Valley, the name of Weston, in honour of his ancestral home - Weston Super Mare. The boom by 1830 was on - with many new mills established along the River Humber, where water power was in abundance at all seasons of the year. The character and business enterprise of three families - The Holleys, the Farrs and the Wadsworths had by184O made Weston a place of importance in Upper Canada. Other well knovsm names had been gradually added to the roster of leading villagers. Major John Paul, an ex army school teacher came in 1823 and soon his presence was felt in the community. He learned that his old friend and contemporary,Captain John Pirritte, of the 79th Highlander Reg'iment,was teaching in Kingston, and he induced him to move to Weston in 1833. Captain Pirritte opened the first elemen- tary school in Weston, while Major Paul operated a brewery and large cooperage. For Major Paul and others in the teaching profession it was neces- sary to augment their income by other means, such as storekeeping or small businesses. Paul and Pirritte both played a big part: in the pro- motion of the Grammar School for Weston, and also in the establishment of the Presbyterian Church here. ln 1854 the Crimean War was in full fury and the Globe carried many accounts of the battles, belatedly brought to Halifax or New York by steamer, as there was no Atlantic cable in those

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V ,.-1 i 2 , it .,5 +' eiF3 . 1 f fl . f Ni. ,ug l f at Above is Joan Warren, left, chatting with two of our centennial guests. Mr. Christie did the lion's share of the work in arranging the weekend program. Contributions of Miss Campbell and Miss Wattie have already been referred to. A long, tedious job was entrusted to Mr. Scott and a corps of commercial students- this consisted of tracking down graduates of the school and then sending out invitations. There is no space to mention others, but each individual involved made a most valuable contribution and to everyone goes a special word of thanks. One difficulty encountered was that many old records of the school had been lost. The original school, for instance, was burned in 1875, and most of the earliest minutes of the Board of Education were destroyed. However, former pupils were able to fill in the odd gap here and there when it came to recording the school's history. As a matter of record, we would like to list the names of those ex-students attending, but space obviously would not permit us to do so. However, it might be of interest to refer to those who regis- tered who would also have attended the schools' 50th birthday celebration in 1907. These areg with the year of their last attendance: Mr. J. Barrett Barker 1190435 Mrs. Chas. Beatty 1190535 Mr. Harold Boak 1190235 Mr. J.C. Boylen 1190335 Mr. Nelson A. Boylen 1190735 Mrs. J.A. Cassan 1189435 Mr. Alec Cruickshank 119043. Mr. F. Keith Dalton 1190435 Mr. Herbert 0. Dixon 1190635 Mrs. Charles Eagle 1190435 Mr. William C. Duncan 1190335 Mr. E.G. Farr 1190735 Mr. C. Lorne Fraser 1190235 Miss Dorothy Garbutt 1190735 Mrs. A.W. Greaves 1189835 Miss Helen V. Grubbe 1189035 Mr. Talbot P. Grubbe 118983. Miss Elizabeth Hamshaw 1190535 Miss J. Irene Hanshaw 1190335 Mr. J.H. Leighton 1189835 Mr. Roy Lindsay 1190735 Mr. George Musson 1190435 Miss Eva N. Nattress 1190135 Mr. A.W. Pearsod 119033. Mr. F.A. Pearson 118933: Mrs. W.E. Pearson 1190735 Mr. N. Riley 1190535 Mr. Henry G. Robb 1189235 Miss Edythe Savage 1190535 Mrs. G.H. Scott 118923g Mr. Vernon Snider 1190535 Mr. Clar- ence Stong 1190735 Mr. E.D. Stong 1190735 Mrs. R.S. Stonehouse 1190435 Mr. W.J. Thomson 1190235 Mr. Herbert P. Wardlaw 1190535 and Mrs. G. Wynn 119073. Good wishes and congratulations came from many sources. One of them was the following letter from Hon. Dr. W.J. Dimlop, Ontario Minister of Education to Mr. Worden, which might be a fitting conclusion to our account: My dear Mr. Worden: The occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of what is now the Weston Collegiate Institute and Vocation School furnishes me with a welcome opportunity to pay official and personal tribute to the magnificent contribution which this institution has made over the long years to the town of Weston and its surrounding community. The full extent of this contribution no one may adequately measure. However, when one thinks of the never-ending stream of boys and girls who have entered this school as comparative children and have emerged, after four or five years, as potential citizens soon to become members of the professions of commerce and industry, or of that great body of home-makers whose influence is perhaps most important of all, even the most ord- inary imagination must be impressed by the influ- ence which this school haslexerted. May I extend to you, as Principal for the past 21 years, and to all the members of your staff, worthy .representatives of the long line of able and devoted teachers who have transformed buildings and equip- ment into a living institution, my sincere appre- ciation of work well done, and my most cordial congratulations on this historic occasion. 9

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days. Less space was now available in the Globe for the continuous attacks on Clergy Reserves. lt is possible that the Crimean War may have done more to found the Grammar School than any single factor. England was desperately short of wheat and 1lour,which she had imported for many years from Russia and Hungary, and the supply was now shut off. British agents born of desperation and extreme urgency went among the farmers in the Weston area odering fantastic prices for wheat. Wheat prosperity was a boon to Weston. Newly rich farmers purchased carriages and wagons, new pumps replaced the old windlass on the well, and wives and daughters bought cloth by the bolt. Everyone in Weston was working,business men were becoming rich and as usually happens in boom times the people began to think of things cultural and educational. Throughout 1855 work was pushed on the Toronto and Guelph Railway, running through the village. The new high level bridge over the Hum- ber was almost completed. It was so well built, that it remains to this day, as a monument to the Crimean War boom. A trial run was made by the railway, on the 30th of January 1856, and the next day the Globe said editorially We heartily con- gratulate our Citizens on the near prospect of this important line being opened for traffic. The im- petus which will be given to trade connot but be very great . A regular train service, was estab- lished on the first of July, 1856, amid great celebration and a large and highly excited group of citizenry gathered on the west bank of the Humber to welcome the first train. As we pay homage this centennial year to our Grammar school, let us not forget the day the first train huffed and puffed its way through the village. Its coming certainly did no harm to the early founding of the Grammar school, as it underlined more than any other happening up to that time that Weston would grow. Following the ceremony, gentlemen wended their way across the fields,to visit with William Wadsworth, the miller. Here in the spacious draw- ing room of Pine Hill , overlooking the River Humber and the site of the early hamlet, which had been completely washed away in the great flood of 1850, these men sat in earnest conversa- tion. They had plenty of contentious things to dis- cuss - The Crimean War, Clergy Reserves, Church Schools, and Dr. Egerton Ryerson's famous school report as recorded in the Globe stated - that to permit sectarian schools was likely to prove the destruction of our school system . To the host and his guests, which included such stal- warts as - William Nason, Colonel J. Stoughton Dennis, Dr. John Hathaway Banks, Squire Wm. Tyrell, James Cruickshank, James Coulter, J. P. Bull and others this was a thought provoking statement. At this time Bishop Charboneff of the Catholic Church had begim to organize a separate school in Weston, a.nd the minister at St. Philip's was teach- ing a group of parish boys in the Rectory. These were ominous signs, and not popular in Weston, which was decidedly Orange and Low Church. At the time of this 1856 gathering William Tyrrell was Chairman of the Educational Commit- tee of the County of York, a fact, which would make him useful in the appeal for a Grammar School in Weston. Councillor Tyrrell, no doubt felt obligated to his mentor and benefactor - William Wadsworth who along with other friends, was quietly promoting the Grammar School scheme. Tyrrell favoured the idea, and was anxious to be of every assistance. D7'1ll1'lIlg' or LVL'-ti-lfllllllll vlr't'n'zl1i1r'lwr ln August of 1856, William Nason, one time Common school teacher in Etobicoke, and an ardent promoter of a school for higher education in Weston, attended a meeting along with William Tyrrell, County Educational Chairman, in the office of James Cruickshank, the carriage builder, for the purpose of drafting a petition. The docu- ment with signatures of eighteen citizens attached, was presented by Mr. Tyrrell to County Council, humbly beseeching that a charter be granted for the establishment of a Grammar School in Weston. Subsequently, notice of motion on behalf of the petition was presented by Cotmcillor Tyrrell, who presented argument that downed all opposition to the proposal. On February 4th, 1857, Cotmty Council passed a by-law, authorizing a Grammar School in Weston. The school opened in August, 1857, in the basement of the old Methodist Church on the Plank Road, 7 JOHN si., wesfon C-H, l-9747 368 Eglinton Ave, West, Toronto HU. 8-1897 .fzadfwf Getz' SAW limited Quito EDtAza..fu.m CHINA -. LAMPS GREETING CARDS ll