How old is jarvis collegiate

Many felt that his lack of discipline and mannerisms, that included a voice which rose and fell for no reason, and a habit of speaking with his eyes closed for a long time before suddenly opening them deterred students. On opening day, there were five students enrolled all boys. By the end of this year, the number rose to However this trend would soon decline, and the year before Stuart resigned , numbers had dropped to a dismal four. Of the original five boys who entered in the school, one made history.

With war looming with the Americans in , it was felt that the City of York needed someone extremely loyal to the Crown to take leadership of Church and School. After receiving an initial offer, negotiations for salary and additional privileges began between then Lieutenant Governor Gore, General Brock and John Strachan. By August , Strachan moved to York to begin as new principal of the school, two months after war was declared.

As a teacher, Strachan believed that education had three aims:. With his coming, the Home District Grammar School saw a record enrolment of 50 by October that same year. By years end, the existing building was too small to fit the needs of the school this original building would be demolished later in A new building was planned, but this was delayed by the war.

In the meantime, a building was rented a reconverted barn at King and Yonge Streets to which the school moved to. The building itself was 55 feet The first floor was the schoolroom, which had desks made with pine, that could seat up to 50 students. The upstairs was used for meetings, debates and performances. At this time the school contained students aged By , with the founding of the Upper Canada College the schools were merged and moved to the corner of Jarvis and Lombard Streets.

As a result, new accommodations had to be found. Jarvis prides itself on this reputation of academic excellence and aims to prepare the next generation of community and world leaders. Jarvis offers a wide range of courses, programs, and extra-curricular activities.

An inquiry method of teaching and learning is utilized as students partake in independent and collaborative studies within the S. Further, our Advanced Placement A.

The SHSM also assists students in their transition from secondary school to apprenticeship training, college, university or the workplace. Three of these pupils would eventually become well known. George Boulton, son of Hon. Allan McNab enrolled in July and was eventually knighted for his exploits on the Niagara frontier during the rebellion of He later served as Prime Minister of Upper Canada from to George O'Kill Stuart was head master from to He preferred to teach with his eyes closed, but students remained alert as he had a habit of re-opening them "suddenly".

Courtesy: Metropolitan Toronto Library. Surviving records suggest that students may not have received their money's worth, as Rev. Stuart's teaching lacked discipline, if not scholarship. In a letter dated August, , one of his students, George S. Jarvis, wrote the following account to Henry Scadding: Cornwall 5 August The Dr was a very amiable man and very averse to use corporal punishment.

When he found it necessary to have recourse to it he sent the delinquent out into his garden to cut the rod of course the smallest twig of the current bush was brought in. Sir Allan was sent out on one occasion; and thinking he would escape by perpetrating a good joke, brought in a pretty large limb cut from an apple tree The Dr did not however see it in that light, and selecting the small part of it gave Sir Allan the most severe castigation I ever saw him inflict.

The boys were frequently in the habit of appropriating the Drs apples and he assured us that the first one detected in this act would be severely punished. On one occasion he detected Sir Allan eating something and pouncing upon him, just as he was putting the last morsel into his mouth, demanded "What are you eating McNab"?

Bread Sir! The Dr it is needless to say sat down rather in discomfiture. At this time some criminal was condemned to the pillory. The Schollars got the impression that they would be permitted to pelt him with rotten eggs; and came provided accordingly. I secured a nest of about a dozen of high odor which I secured in my coat tail pockets and approached the scene of action very cautiously.

McNab was there before me and with a bat gave me a rap on the pockets — the event can be better imagined than described After cutting off the pockets one of them was appropriated to the use of the assailant and of course a battle ensued — Result a black eve to McNab and a bloody nose to your humble servant. A fight in those days was looked upon by the boys as necessary to acquire a Status and in truth parents did not altogether discourage it.

An enrolment of twenty students in and gave way to only thirteen the following year. Stuart ended classes during the summer of with a total enrolment of only four pupils: James Givins, William Cawthra. Thomas Playter and William Pilkington. He expressed to his superiors a desire to be relieved of his duties as master and his wishes were granted. In he moved to Kingston where he succeeded his deceased father as minister.

John Strachan, a year-old Scot who had been teaching in Cornwall for nine years, made a determined effort to find a new home. His attempt to fill the parish vacancy created in Kingston by the death of Rev. John Stuart was successfully opposed by Stuart's influential wife, who sought the position for her son, George.

Strachan's remaining two choices were to stay in Cornwall, or to accept Lieutenant Governor Gore's offer of the mastership at the Home District Grammar School in York at a lesser salary.

He chose the former. Fate, however, would not permit the determined cleric to remain in Cornwall. War with the United States was imminent, and an attack on York, a government seat and garrisoned town, was certain.

Authorities needed the energetic, stubborn, pro- British Strachan to take charge of St. Consequently, General Brock made a second offer which included a salary increase and chaplaincy to the Legislature. This time Strachan accepted. John Strachan was head master from to Before becoming the first Bishop of Toronto he moved his students into the Old blue School. Such an appointment included the headmastership of the Home District Grammar School.

Courtesy: Ontario Archives. Two months later Strachan arrived in his new home and subsequently observed, "The bustle and confusion occasioned by the war has given me little opportunity of ascertaining the state of the parish, most of the people are at the lines resisting invasion By October he was sufficiently organized to publish the following advertisement in the York Gazette: E btYCATtON.

Anrtouq 0 Cit-end the rdv. Commander-in-Chief of the U. In order to avoid such incrimination, the General signed. The school and numerous residences were thus spared from the torch, but many public buildings, including the Library and Legislature were less fortunate.

The Americans continued to occupy the town for eleven days. With increased fighting on the Great Lakes in , Strachan had little time for teaching. Finally, in the Battle of York ended, and at last the master could concentrate his efforts on the school. The two-storey schoolhouse was built in from timbers cut in the forest just north of College Square. It was located on the corner of Newgate Adelaide and Church Streets. Courtesy: John Ross Robertson Collection. The opening of the school in was advertised in the Upper Canada Gazette on October 10th.

Courtesy: Canadian Library Association. A record enrolment of fifty that year forced the new master to move his class into a reconverted barn on the southeast corner of King and Yonge Streets.

On the evening of April 26, , fourteen vessels containing 1, undisciplined Americans sailed into what is now Toronto Harbour. The building was to be erected feet from both Church and Newgate Streets. The rest of the block, which was to serve as a playground, was filled with huge pine stumps, white clover and small ponds. A few methods were recalled by historian and alumnus Henry Scadding: Now and then a lad would be seen standing with his jacket turned inside out.

An "ally" or apple brought inopportunely into view during the hours of work might entail the exhibition, article by article, slowly and reluctantly, of all the contents of a pocket. Occasionally the censors senior boys appointed to help in keeping order were sent to cut rods on Mr. McGill's property adjoining the playground on the north; but the dire implements were not often called into requisition.

Even if the ordeal involved recitation rather than examination, it was as dreaded then as the grade 13 "departmentals" would be in the following century. Parents, relatives and inhabitants seeking excitement crowded into the school's second storey to hear their favourite urchins perform; and on a raised dais which was covered with a crimson carpet gleamed the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland.

In his Prologue the feature performer of the Examination, Robert Baldwin, praised the Marquis of Wellesley for founding a college in Calcutta. The suggestion was then made to Maitland that he too could be immortalized by establishing such a school: Yet much remains for some aspiring son, Whose liberal soul from that desires renown, Which gains for Wellesley a lasting crown; Some general structure in these wilds to rear, Where every art and science may appear. O, Maitland blest!

For the next four hours the guests were entertained with debates, acclamations, and recitations. Perhaps it was with some relief that the audience listened to Horace Ridout's Epilogue in which he lodged a complaint against his master: Between ourselves, and just to speak my mind, In English Grammar, Master's much behind; I speak the honest truth I hate to dash — He bounds our talk by Murray, Lowth and Ashe.

I told him once that Abercrorrhie, moved By genius deep, had Morrav's pian R. He frowned epon me, his nose. And said the had dose.

And all the lie Ha; iost h',s iavour Every yean jc. Gt [o summer vacation, everyone contributed to a " east" held in the classroom with the administration's approval. According to the master, it was a "riotous affair". Following the establishment of the eight district grammar schools it became obvious that their numbers were too few, and their fees too high.

Consequently, the legislature passed the Common School Act of , which was based on Strachan's proposals and drawn up with his assistance. Scholarships were to be available to the poorer inhabitants, and each community was to elect a board of three trustees.

A provincial Board of Education was also established to control and distribute the grants which were based on pupil attendance, and to provide for textbooks and a portion of the teachers' salaries.

Unfortunately, the provisions did not include finances for the construction and upkeep of schoolhouses; that chore was left to the trustees. Thus the administration was organized, but few schools were built. I have hired two 21 Assistants by which we are enabled to extend our system of education. YOB, Feb. In an advertisement in the February. The proceeds were used for the purchase of the legendary blue paint. As a result of his lectures, a coat of slate-blue paint was applied to the outside of the building, and the door and windows were trimmed with white.

Henceforth the structure was to be known as the Old Blue School. One of the assistants, Rev. Bethune, eventually succeeded Strachan as Bishop of Toronto. Of his introduction to the school he wrote: On entering it for the first time, with the reverend Principal on a bright September morning, fresh school-boy feelings were awakened by the sight of forty, or fifty, happy young faces, from seventeen down to five years of age.

There was a Class of only two in Greek, who also took up Horace and Livy in Latin; and there were three Latin Forms below them — the most numerous and the most sprightly reading Cornelius Nepos. None were much advanced in Mathematics, and, with the exception of the senior two, had not passed the fourth book of Euclid. John Strachan remained director of the school, while the actual teaching was carried on by his assistants.

Three years later he was appointed General Superintendent of Education for Upper Canada, and resigned his post at "Old Blue", the school which was so indebted to him for its construction, philosophy, discipline and paint. He continued to work with the same dedication and determination for the rest of his life.

In the history of the University of Toronto began when he secured the charter of King's College for the purpose of training Anglican clergy. In Strachan realized his ultimate goal when he was appointed first Bishop of Toronto. Scadding, H. Spragge, G. Kingston Gazette Sept. Doughty, A. Strachan, J. Scadding, Henry, op. Il Spragge, G. John Strachan Toronto: This was probably the first use of the term in North America.

Samuel Armour, became headmaster in The Scotsman seems to have been remembered as much for his love of hunting as for his ability to teach. Students recall that he was extremely distracted from his lessons whenever a flock of passenger pigeons flew overhead, to the accompanying sounds of popping guns.

Upon receipt of the only available copy of the classics text, Eutropius, he stitched up the English translation at the back of the book to deny the pupils any assistance. For some undetermined reason, his class once chose to bar his entry to the school by piling cordwood against the door from within. The master had to effect his not-too-graceful entrance via a side window.

The castigation resulting from the caper is unknown, but it is one historical event that was never repeated. Armour moved to Cavan township where he was a schoolmaster until his death.

Thomas Phillips, a Cambridge graduate recently arrived from England. He was a highly respected scholar who introduced many of the Eton traditions to the school. In appearance he resembled an English country parson with his shovel-hat, closelybuttoned frock coat, prescribed leggings and powdered hair. The use of the Eton Greek Grammar was also initiated, but the selections from it, as well as the master's notes, were translated into Latin, not English.

Phillips added a large, rough "lean-to" across the entire west side of the schoolhouse to provide his students with a play area during inclement weather. A few bars and poles were included, and the master instructed everyone to refer to it as the Rev. Thomas Phillips was headmaster from to Beneath his frock coat were the prescribed leggings;-his powdered hair was enhanced with a shovel-hat.

Such fees and such regulations in a school where 60 scholars are admissable, may make Parson Phillips live like a prince, but they destroy the intention of the legislature, and shut the door upon the children of common people, farmers, Later, a report by a Select Committee condemned all the grammar schools of the province as failures, and stimulated efforts towards a better system of education throughout York. Phillips resigned to become its vice-principal.

When Dr. Phillips came to York, he brought with him George Anthony Barber, who became the assistant master and introduced the boys to cricket on one hundred square feet of cleared space beside the school. The game became so popular throughout the province that Barber later received the pseudonym, Father of Cricket in Upper Canada. He became Toronto's first Public School Superintendent in Such a location enabled students to "raise Irish Town" , the neighbourhood to the east.

To the east was Irish Town, a row of dilapidated dwellings inhabited by impoverished derelicts. For excitement the boys would "raise" the area in what they considered to be a harmless, enjoyable skirmish. In retaliation the enemy would hurl rocks, bottles and other handy missiles in the direction of the schoolyard with sufficient accuracy to effect an abrupt truce.

For the next three years the Royal Grammar School would exist only as an unkempt, vacant structure. Fortunately for the history of Jarvis Collegiate, the new system of education at Upper Canada College was modeled after that of the English grammar schools which practised the philosophy, "Only a classical education should be given, and the classical master should teach English, but nothing more of it than is absolutely necessary.

These verbal complaints were reinforced in May, , with a petition to Lieutenant Governor Sir John Colborne, "praying" for the reopening of the Royal Grammar School and signed by "a number of respectable citizens". In the correspondence which followed, it was decided that the trustees should acquire the site upon which the school was located. Accordingly, by the end of the month, the Royal Grammar School was again in operation, this time under the mastership of Rev. Duncan MacAulay.

The amalgamation and subsequent separation of Upper Canada College from the Royal Grammar School caused a controversy which raged for twenty-five years and could be summarized in one item: Who owned the plot of land located on the east side of College Square upon which "Old Blue" stood?

As for the evidence, some of it was written, some of it was verbal, some of it was "understood"; but all of it was confusing. The original grant of land had been made in when College Square six acres of "block D" was set aside for the erection of a grammar school. Only an order-in-council could transfer the deed.

Forty-three years later, the entire defence of the first twenty-seven years of Grammar School history would rest on this one point. In Upper Canada College sold that portion of "block D" which was not in dispute and then moved to the new location on Russell Square, leaving behind a withered "Old Blue" which, for the next three years, would serve only as "a depot for 'General Stock' — in other words, a receptacle for Rags and Old Iron".

The Globe Jan. Archibald Rev. It name. Canada six-acre schoolhouse e 0… Initially, March College, playground, decadence ofill-repute. Elsewhere, The wasfilthy reduction Lombard Rev. Few teachers stayed more than a year in any one position; it was only a stepping stone to a better job. His replacement, Charles Cosens, became the first layman-master in the school's history.

For two years he served his apprenticeship while the faded "Old Blue" gained the reputation of being "partly a humble rival of and partly a preparatory school" for Upper Canada In College.

Archibald MacMurchy. Toronto: The Association. Archibald MocMurchy, MA.. An unfavourable economy contributed to the lack of interest among parents and students. Outing the 's there was an upsurge in immigration to Amenca by the Insh. In many instances children were forced to work, Even wealthy landowners could not prevent thetr progeny from growing up ignorant and boorish, and from occupying a far lower mental, moral and social position than they themselves held.

Despite all obstacles, Marcellus Crombie was determined to establish a respectable grammar school. In an appeal for scholars he placed the follmving advertisement in the Upper Canada Gazette on January The nonte School. C Ito. Ilours of attendance, in the Season, frotn 9 to 12,. By order of the Board of M. Toronto, 7th Janu4ry, A contrasting notice was published in the same newspaper in October of that year. A seminary for the instruction of Young Ladies, will be opened Monday, the 16th instant, under the Superintendance of Mrs.

During his tenure. The School Act of established a provincial grant which was to be paid to the local school board, on condition that the municipalities raise an equal amount by local assessment. Egerton Ryerson's School Act of created a provincial Normal School for the training of teachers, described the subjects to be taught and provided for uniform textbooks.

A regrettable financial crisis developed early in which temporarily halted Ryerson's efforts for free, compulsory education.

The Board of Education had only sufficient funds to operate the grammar schools for six months. An appeal to City Council for more funds was denied, leaving the trustees with no alternative but to close the schools.

In June Crombie's class of scholars was dismissed indefinitely. In the midst of this crisis, yet another erupted. Shortly after midnight on April 7, , startled sleepers were awakened by shouts of "Fire!

James' belfry. The sound was alarming and the vie.. The city's east end appeared to be one huge fireball and, overhead, blazing shingles twisted westward.

The situation at College Square seemed hopeless as the Cathedral was destroyed after a shingle landed on its spire. On July 1, , the school re-opened, free to all, and remained so until February. Women accused educational authorities of disregarding their needs. In response to a complaint concerning the lack of schools for women, one was opened in ; but when the ladies demanded the right to teach, they were almost completely ignored.

Those who were hired received much less pay because, unlike their counterparts, they were not required to know advanced mathematics and bookkeeping. This inconsistency led to a major conflict in the 's in which women unsuccessfully demanded equal pay for equal work. L10k snrpowp. In December, , he died and was buried in St. James' Cemetery following the funeral service which took place in the school. Crombie be continued in his present situation and have charge of the school till further action be taken by the Board and that the school be opened at the usual time after Christmas vacation.

Jennings presented the committee's report to the Board in March, whereupon it was decided to hire one headmaster and one assistant. Cameron, Most Jarvis histories record the death of Mr. Crombie in , but is correct. Rev, Dr. Michael Howe, who became headmaster in , was a tall gentleman who had acquired a rubicund nose due to many years of snuffing. Michael Howe, the new headmaster, moved to Toronto, the city was experiencing a decade of unprecedented change.

Everything from business to brothels, industry to unemployment and huge railways to petty theft underwent expansion. The emergence of Toronto's first capitalists from the prosperous middle class paralleled the opening of new banks which competed for a share of the profits.

The cost of living, the number of taverns and acts of crime all soared. From to one out of every nine of Toronto's 45, inhabitants appeared in court to face charges related to theft or drunkenness As a possible solution to the problem, citizens advocated "free" schools, arguing that "Schoolhouses are better public investments than Penitentiaries or Jarls.

So, the "free" school movement had to wait. Superintendent Barber, one of its exponents and a former "Old Blue" teacher, in frustration after admitting that schools were "inefficient, undisciplined, costly, and comparatively fruitless.

It ran along the south boundary to Nelson Jarvis Street, then north to March Street, and finally, west to a row of old wooden houses which lined the yard's western limit. Within the fenced area neither trees nor grass were visible.

Whether from boredom or curiosity, the students devised a popular game called "prisoner's base" in which they, the prisoners, peeked through the cracks and holes in the fence in order to watch the activities of March Street. The entrance on the north-west corner, which was protected by a large porch, faced the playground, and the upper storey was the headmaster's residence.

Strachan's single classroom had been divided into two small rooms one for English class, the other for mathematics and a larger main room. Each of the former accommodated twenty boys who sat along the wall with their backs to the teacher. The only furniture was a circular blackboard which turned freely on a pivot. In the main room were two or three lumbering desks about 16 feet long with double slopes. Along the south and east walls were fixed desks.

The fumiture consisted principally of an old box stove and pipes of a bright red color except where the heat had bumed the rust off the sides and top of the stove and the lowermost length of pipe, and forms and desks all constructed of the comrnonest pine 32 wood, innocent of paint, but wonderfully carved with the names or initials of more than one generation of boys, and artistically or otherwise elaborately ornamented with scrolls and caricatures wrought by the industrious hands of the boys aforesaid and blotched with ink, blue, black and red, though the softening influence of time had mezzotinted them to a rusty brown.

The rest of the paraphernalia was a small table with a hand bell and ferule upon it for the rector's use and a tarnished terrestrial globe. Michael Howe, was a tall, spare man crowned with thin, iron-grey hair, and adorned with a rubicund nose the result of many years of snuffing which was "surmounted by a pair of gold spectacles, that did not prevent him from holding his book too close to his After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, he was appointed principal of the Belfast Academic Institution.

He took up his post at "Old Blue" in Although Dr. Howe was basically kind-hearted and "willing to coach a promising boy in his study after hours, there were times when he was irritable, especially if the class was illprepared or more than usually dense, when the strokes of the bamboo on the outstretched legs before him were as continuous as the questions asked. It is said that at one time, after administering the stick once round the class, he pitched his book at them, telling them that they were a set of ignorant dolts, and left them in disgust.

His assistants usually moved on to other endeavours after spending only a few years in the school. One of them, Mr. Drinkwater, who was a Cambridge man and English master, "had an abundance of straight hair overhanging a face deeply pitted but marked with resolution The very sound of his English boots announced the master, and woe betide the boy who trifled after his entrance.

Another instructor, Dr. Archibald MacMurchy, who joined the staff in , ultimately served as rector of the school for twenty-eight years. The teacher who created the most controversy was Mr. Brooke, an English and history master. In August, , the Board heard a letter from a parent, Dr. Lett, bringing a charge against Mr. Brooke "for teaching the Boys opinions on Scripture History tending to throw discredit on His Scriptures.

Brooke has indulged in a strain of remarks highly unbecoming in itself and fitted to be prejudicial to the pupils as tending to weaken their reverence for the teaching of the Old Testimonial Scriptures as a divine inspired record; and that allusions were made by him of an improper kind and expressions employed calculated to familiarize the minds of his pupils with improper thoughts.

In consequence of this conduct on the part of Mr. Brooke, he has forfeited the confidence of the Board, and it is with no small difficulty they can refrain from visiting such conduct with the penalty of his immediate dismissal from the school. They resolve and hereby notify to him that his connexion with the school shall cease and determine at the expiration of six months from this date.

The oldest possession in the Jarvis Collegiate Archives is the stained, but elegant County Grammar School Programme which was illustrated by the aforementioned, blasphemous Mr. Brooke a few months before he was dismissed by the Board. The colours have faded from its beautiful border, but the ornate quill-pen designs are still impressive. They include mythical characters, cherubs and a beehive.

The actual timetable in it shows five one-hour periods per day with an hour and a half for lunch. The first and second divisions of form I took grammar and composition, reading and spelling, writing, Latin, natural history, geography and arithmetic.

Algebra and geometry were added to the curriculum in form Il. The form Ill course included Greek, elocution, and geology. Students in the "university grade" studied Latin for two hours each day and natural philosophy or mathematics in the third hour.

They did not attend school in the afternoon. Beneath the program's lower border is the signature, "C. Brooke fecit Sep yr. Brooke who was fired at the end of the school year for blasphemy. Cockburn died the following year as a result Of a tooth extraction.

Courtesy: Agnes Tuer. James Louden was one example. Before entering university, he attended the Grammar School and then transferred to U. He later served as president of the University of Toronto from to In William Rattray won a scholarship in classics and history to become the first Grammar School graduate to gain direct entry into the university.

He later was a successful journalist and editor for the Toronto Mail. After Rev. Richard Harrison won the same scholarship in , the school began to attain status. Entrance examinations were begun in The seven boys who attained the best results were granted free admission to the Grammar School for two years, with a possible extension to four years.

Such an award was truly coveted, as it was the only means enabling many to attend high school. Tuition fees were a luxury few could afford. By March of that year, the time had come to consider the future of the faded and battered old schoolhouse. Dean Grasett, Chairman of the Board, wrote to Mayor Charles Daly requesting a grant for the construction of a new school claiming, "The building which is one of the oldest in the city is in a state of complete dilapidation, and the Trustees have no funds at their disposal to remedy the Evil.

It would be abandoned in The Board advised the Grammar School to vacate the the university planned to sell a portion of land which included twenty feet of the school premises.

The controversy climaxed auctioneer began to take bids on the school site. Two trustees Rev. John Barclay and Rev. John Jennings were present. Bar lay: recalled, "We were rather uncertain how to act, but when bids were called for we thought it necessary, being advised to do so by a legal gentleman then in the room, the present Chancellor of Upper Canada, Mr.

Van Koughnet, to state openly how we considered the matter to stand and that we had a claim on the property. This put an end to the sale. The property was withdrawn. As it was, the matter remained unsettled. Later that year Rev. Barclay journeyed to the capital and presented a petition to Lord Elgin. It was passed on to the Attorney-General who concluded that the Grammar School had a "moral claim", and "that as the institution was in existence it ought not to be dispossessed of its property," and that the lands in question should be confirmed to the Grammar School.

Macdonald, Sir George E. Galt, Mr. Sicotte and Mr. Today, the existing evidence in the case is biased, conflicting and incomplete. Nevertheless, some facts are certain: when U. The old schoolhouse, the name "Royal Grammar School" and a corner of College Square were inherited by the predecessor of Jarvis Collegiate.

Howe with this their determination that he may prove himself accordingly. Howe "resigning his situation of Head Master, but asking reasonable time to make arrangements. Four-of these Lots front on Spadina Avenue, and one on Co! Taken together they form a block measuring an acre and a quarter, and furnish a gross frontage or fe t to each Street.

This piece 0' land forms part or the Vniversity F,ndowment, and is distant from the city obont 5 miles. An upset priee wilt be named. Bursar's Offee,. The notice by the University of Toronto Bursar on behalf of Upper Canada College for the purpose of selling the Central School was also an attempt to sell a section of land which belonged to the Toronto Grammar School. Courtesy: Public Archives of Canada. I, James, op. AE, op. Part of the school building rested on the area to be auctioned off.

Howe, the first woman teacher in the school's history. A growing population of wealthy citizens could afford to purchase the latest fashions such as snow shoes and hoop skirts.

Arthur Wickson was the last minister to be appointed rector of the Grammar School. Prior to he had graduated from the University of Toronto and had served as University College registrar. He may not have been as colourful as his predecessors, but his diligence, coupled with a progressive attitude, enabled the school to evolve without abandoning beneficial traditions.

There is no record of any fond farewells to the former barn and its dubious environs. The money was eventually used to purchase the site at Jarvis Street. The Dalhousie Street schoolhouse contained three classrooms as shown in the plan below.

The lot was enclosed by Gould, Mutual and Dalhousie Streets and a north wall. It was the forerunner of all the social, athletic and special interest groups which would be established at Jarvis Collegiate. For several years the "Lit. After a year of inactivity, the "Lit. It also received a new name, "The Debating and Literary Society". Meetings took place once a week, and were presided over by each of the masters in turn.

The essence of its success were debates and the perennial 41 encouragement of mathematics master, Archibald MacMurchy. Today the "Lit. During Dr. Wickson's rectorship there was a steady increase in the number of graduates gaining direct entry into the University of Toronto.

Among those who won admission scholarships were Alfred Baker and Fred Manley Baker also earned a gold medal in mathematics from University College and later retired from that institution as a professor. Girls reappeared in the school in after an absence of fifty-eight years. They were allowed to study only French, and the school received no provincial grant for their attendance. In March, , the appointed Board of Education met to consider new sites for the already bulging Grammar School.

A Building Committee, consisting of Rev. Barclay, Col. Dennison, Mr. Greenless and Sheriff Frederick William Jarvis, spent the remainder of that year searching unsuccessfully for a suitable location. On December 29th the following entry was made into the Board minutes: The Committee looking into the purchase of the Dixon House found that "it would not be suitable".

The Board agreed. Sheriff Jarvis, on invitation of the committee approved, and offered his lot on Jarvis Street, and explained it by plan.

Moved by Mr. The Dalhousie site couldn't suffice for another year. As an interim measure, the Board applied to. So Dr. Wickson quickly packed, moved into the edifice during Easter Week, , and remained there until the summer of the following year. The School Act of brought about major reforms in education. Compulsory attendance for persons between the ages of seven and twelve became law and would be enforced.

Grammar schools were obligated to accept both boys and girls who passed the semi-annual entrance exam. Changes in the curriculum made the study of Latin and Greek optional and added the following courses: agricultural chemistry, English composition, French, German, music and linear drawing.