by Lawrence A. Crich

(1986)   The early history of the Wellington Street School, like that of many other old schools, is very difficult to trace due to the meagreness of information to be found in the old minutes. Such minutes are in sharp contrast with the volumes written annually today. Now, every golden word dropped from the lips of our Board members seems to be recorded; the secretaries of those days recorded only the most essential details of a motion. Seldom did any of the background information make its way into print. Perhaps, a middle ground between the two extremes would be a happy compromise.

Because of the fire in the old Wesleyan Methodist Church located on the southwest corner of Lochiel and Brock, then Mechanic, Streets on or about April 14, 1868, it was necessary to find new locations for the two classrooms located there. At the Board meeting of April 17th, it was decided to house Miss Sylvia Pottinger’s class in the Baptist Church at $5 a month and Miss Isabella Mudie was to have hers in the City Hall. At this meeting, it was recommended that a school room be built on the school grounds in the South Ward. This may well have been the land referred to in the minutes of August 2, 1861, when a committee was set up to obtain land to build a school in the South Ward. At the May 1st meeting, it was moved to build a brick and wood building 36 feet by 24 feet on the school ground of the South Ward.

At that same meeting considerable discussion took place concerning the role of the principal. The Board stated that, “The principal was to have full power over all the schools and the several classrooms in each except the room occupied by the Grammar School. The principal was to have full charge of the grounds of the Central School (referring then to the Union School).” The Grammar School was housed in the Union School.

At the June 5, 1868 meeting, the tenders for the South Ward School were opened. The tenders were divided into two groups as follows: brick building – William Ireland $825, R.S. Oliver $890, and Alex McLaggan $985; wooden building – Alex McLaggan $700, and R.R. Oliver (sic) $767. The tender of William Ireland was accepted.

No information was recorded concerning the number of rooms. Some comments would lead one to believe it could have been a single room. However, Mr. Ireland won the tender to build a two-room school at Durand and it was for the same sum of money, $825. In the information it stated that Mr. Ireland was to build a similar building on Wellington Street.

On September 3, 1869, the Board considered the petition from Town Council asking it not to break up the school lots in the South Ward which the citizens wished for a park; rather it should use Lots 19 and 20 on the east side of Albert Street (now Vidal) belonging to Mr. Copland which could be purchased for $300. The lots that the City wished to retain as a unit are now part of Library Park.

Although nothing appears in the Board records until 1875, the school was built, a staff appointed, and the pupils moved in to the building. Probably Miss Pottinger or Miss Mudie or both were the first teachers. It was reported to the Board on September 3, 1875, that geese had spoiled the water of the South Ward School well; now-a-days it is toxic substance and pcb.

It wasn’t until the Board minutes of November 4, 1892 that the name Wellington Street School appeared; Inspector Brebner in reference to a teacher, Miss Lily McKelvey, uses the term Wellington Street School. From that date, the school was generally referred to as Wellington.

By the early 1900s, the old Wellington School was too small and had outlived its usefulness. At the February 3, 1904 Board meeting, the Building Committee was instructed to proceed with the building of a new Wellington Street School similar to Durand. The tenders for various stages of construction were reviewed in March 1904 and the total cost of those accepted was $11,151. It is not known if this included finishing the upper floor or not, however, since the total cost of the building was significantly higher than the Durand School, it is felt that the building was finished at one time. On August 26, 1904 it was reported that the building would be ready for occupancy on September 10th. By October 7th it was found necessary to open another room. It is not known if this was the third or fourth room. At the December meeting, it was reported that the total cost of the building was $11,978.69.

The Wellington Street School was smaller in almost every detail to the Durand School, two-storeys, two classrooms to a floor, and finished on the exterior with a dark, buff brick. The number and style of windows on each side were (sic) identical. The only distinguishable difference between the two buildings was to be found along the roof-line of the front of the two buildings. Wellington was more ornate.

Miss Nellie Campbell was moved from Durand to Wellington in September, 1908. On October 4th, the Board recognized her by giving her a $25 increase in salary as she was the only female staff member holding a First Class Teaching certificate. At the same meeting, Miss Dora Bassett was also recognized for her teaching capabilities.

Life at Wellington remained quite routine until after World War II when the City entered the Petro-Chemical Age in a rather big way. The city’s population started to grow rapidly and it was necessary to build new elementary schools and place additions on existing ones. At the same time, great pressure was being placed on Sarnia’s only public secondary school, the Sarnia Collegiate and Technical School. It could no longer house all its students. To alleviate this problem, the Board at its July 8, 1946 meeting, decided to make the Wellington Street School an annex to the Sarnia Collegiate where a number of the academic courses were scheduled. At that meeting, the Board officially closed Wellington as an elementary school.

Wellington continued to be a secondary school annex until the completion of the Central Collegiate Institute on East Street in 1956. In June, 1956, Wellington ended its second phase of existence.

At the May 17, 1956 meeting, it was moved to renovate the school for Administrative Offices to be ready for September. The Board offices were housed in the Lochiel Street School under extremely cramped conditions. The October 1956 Board meeting was held in the new Board room on the second floor of the Wellington Street School.

The Sarnia Board and Administrative Offices continued to be housed in the Wellington building to the end of the Sarnia Board of Education, December 1968, and then served as the home of the newly formed Lambton County Board of Education. Over the years, partitions were torn down, new ones were put up, shelves were built here and cupboards there, workshops were built in the yard, two portable classrooms were attached to the building and each partitioned into little cubicles which passed for offices; a large brick house on Vidal Street north of the grounds was purchased to house a growing maintenance staff to serve an enlarged school system. The Wellington Street School had grown to be an amazing labyrinth of cubicles, halls, closets, cupboards, shelves, and add-ons from which a multi-million (dollar) business was administered. By no stretch of the imagination could such a collection ever have met even the minimum of requirements of fire regulations. A stranger to the building had to be guided to his/her appointed destination. The need for a new administration building was very evident for many years. Perhaps those who worked in this building had some appreciation of what it must have been like for classes of 85 plus found on this very site in the 1880s and 90s.

During the 1950s and 60s, the Sarnia Board of Education had been buying up many of the old, substandard neighbouring houses as they came on the market. Through an arrangement with the City of Sarnia, the houses were removed, the lots leveled and the land was used for parking for the Sarnia Arena as well as Board parking. The foresight of this move must never be overlooked.

After the formation of the Lambton Board, the struggle for the site of the new Administration Building began. Of course, the rural trustees fought for a central Lambton site , perhaps some location between Reece’s Corners and Petrolia, with a strong pitch for Petrolia as the hub of Lambton. From a geographic point of view, Petrolia would have been ideal. However, after the Board members and administrative heads fought their way to Petrolia to the Collegiate through a blinding snowstorm once or twice, where such Board meetings were held on an experimental basis, sobering second thoughts began to take over.

It is true that seven or eight trustees must risk driving to Sarnia, this was also true for driving to Petrolia. However, about three times as many people would have to risk driving to Petrolia from the Sarnia area. The mileage expenses to the Board would rise astronomically if the move was made to Petrolia as the bulk of the population lived along the St. Clair River.

Finally, the site was narrowed to west Lambton, a Bright Grove’s site, a location near Confederation Street and Highway #40, or somewhere in Sarnia. The Sarnia City Council was most anxious to retain the offices in the City. After a great deal of dialogue, on September 16, 1974, on a motion from John Fullerton and Carolynne Ellis, the Wellington Street School site was settled upon. A Wawanosh School or Confederation Street-Highway #40 site would have proved to be ideal from a standpoint of accessibility from all points in the County and the Board did own land in both areas. Again, no consideration seems to have been given to building a smaller Administration Building facing George Street on the Lochiel campus and making full use of the very sound Lochiel building (a school soon to be closed due to falling population) for additional office space. Rather, one of the most congested areas was chosen.

At the Board meeting of May 21, 1974, on a motion from Carolynne Ellis and Clare Freer, William Andrews and Ian Rutherford were engaged as architects and were instructed to draw plans for the new building. Again, the Board did a great deal of agonizing over what it felt that it could afford and what Administration attempted to show was required. The first plan called for a three-storey structure. Then the very sharp pencils began to work; the third storey was removed and other slashes were made. Finally a much more modest plan was ready for tenders, although some Board members felt that the building was much too luxurious, the lean-to concept had still not died. On June 21, 1976, on the motion from Carolynne Ellis and Clare Freer, the tender of MacKay-Cocker Construction Company Limited of London of $880,000.00 was accepted.

The Administrative and Maintenance Staffs moved the office materials and other equipment from the old to the new building on September 30, 1977. The entire cost of the new facility was $1,116,895.66.

On June 24, 1978, the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, the Right Honourable Pauline McGibbon, a graduate of the Sarnia Schools, officially opened the beautiful new Lambton County Board of Education Centre at 200 Wellington Street.

Through agreement with the City of Sarnia, the old Wellington Street School then passed from the Lambton Board. Teperman and Sons Limited were engaged to raze the building.

 

Highlights

June 5, 1868 – The tender of William Ireland of $825 is accepted

Jan. 7, 1880 – Miss Amelia Beau appointed to the South Ward School on the resignation of Miss Brown

March 5, 1880 – On a recommendation from the teachers, the Board moved to discontinue giving prizes at the annual examinations, a practice that had existed for over 30 years

June 4, 1880 – the Board’s visiting committee reported that the backhouses of the South Ward were very dirty

Dec. 4, 1904 – Miss E. Sloan was placed in the Wellington School

July, 1905 – Wellington School was struck by lightning but only the flagstaff was shattered

Nov. 6, 1908 – Wellington School was closed and fumigated due to Scarlet Fever

Feb. 8, 1909 – The Wellington School grounds were enlarged by the acquisition of the Weston property on Vidal Street for $1,500

July, 1919 – Fire escapes were put on Wellington School at a cost of $800

1920 – Russell Bond attended Wellington

Sept. 1930 – Telephone installed

June 6, 1946 – Wellington was officially closed as a Public School and made an annex to Sarnia Collegiate

May 17, 1956 – Board moved to renovate Wellington for Administrative Offices. The Lambton County Board of Education had the Wellington Street School closed.

Staff

Because of the varied life of this school many of the records were destroyed and it is impossible to present a complete picture of the principals.

Miss Nellie Campbell Sept. 1904
Miss McLellan 1917
Mary Coke 1919
F.S. Smith 1923-1928
Elgin Turnbull 1928/29
Clement White 1929/30
Captain Howard Coleman 1930-1939
Franklin Smith 1939/40
Russell Bond 1940-42
John D. VanHorne 1942/43
Miss Margaret McKay 1943/44
Wilfred Lawrence 1944-46

The last staff to serve in Wellington Street School as an elementary school was Wilfred C. Lawrence, principal, Alice Baxter, Wynnifred McGeary, and Margaret A. McKay.