Here is a picture of the St Willibrord School which was demolished and replaced by the E. Sauv챕 French Primary School at the corner of Willibrord and Verdun ave.
Translation:
In 1918, the school was built to accommodate both the boys and girls with double residence for the religious Brothers and Sisters. It was destined for the english speaking children of the new Saint Willibrord Parish founded in 1913.
Archives SHGV
Guy
33 comments:
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Great old picture of St Willibrord's High School ,...boys entrance to the left of the photo,..the girls entrance would have been around theright hand side of the picture,.......it looks to me like that picture is taken from the park in front of the City Hall ( present day city hall of course),.......there was a chain link fence that ran right down Willibroed ..where those tree s are in the picture,.......out of view and over to the far right of that picture would have been the Grade School,.....St Willibrord's Boys .......the Girls went to grade school in the building depicted in your photo,....and did not share the same grade school building as us,.......the only time we saw the girls,was at recess,.........(till the later years.........hahahahaha) Nice picture & thanks for finding it,.........perhaps where you found that one,..may also have a picture of the other StWillibrord's Boy's school,.....it was built right at the corner of Rielle & Verdun av,.....running length wise up Rielle.......a chain link fence was used to separate our grade school from the high school,.... HF&RV
Hi Sandy .....great minds think alike ,..we both replied at almost the same time............HF&RV
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Thank you very much Sandy and Les for all that information. I will document all those details for our archives at the SHGV. Guy
Thanks Guy, Sandy and Les for all the historical infos. JM
Hi Les & Sandy, You forgot to mention that the left hand side of the high school was turned into a french school at the same time as the girls grade school went into the right hand side of the high school.And in later years the boys and girls for the higher grades 4,5,6 & 7 were in the old high school. And the Boys Academy was turned into a boys & girls mixed classes for grades 1,2,3. And then after the fire the grade 7's went to VCHS on Champlain. Danny
Hi Dannyb--1 ! Your additional infos are appreciated. Do you remember when the fire took place ? JM
Here’s a pic of the actual Ecole Lévis-Sauvé (on the site of the old St. Willibrord School)
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Great shot of St. Willibrord's School, it would have been from the south side of Verdun Ave & Willibrord as you can see the houses on the Rielle east side of the school, and the primary mustn't have been built yet which would put into the thirties.if the photo is complete. Also remember during the 40 & 50's the 4th & 5th grade boys went to classes at Fifth & Verdun in ND Lourdes school with teachers like Messr Murph, Hyland, Doyle, Bro Kenneth etal. HF & RV Gordo .
Hi Sandy, are you referring to the most recent picture of the new school,.....if you are ,.it looks to me like that photo,was taken from the City Hall,......looking at the newer school which runs from Verdun Av up towards where the old StWillibrord's High School was,...and it's footprint seems to cover the area along Verdun Av,.towards Rielle,...as well. So in effect your looking down on Willibrord Av,.over towards Rielle,...and Verdun Av along the right edge of the picture,.............and to JMH,...the fire was in the later 60's,...........and to Danny B ....I Remember when the first time grade 7's went to the 'new VCH on Champlain,..which would have been 66-67,...because the first yearbook that VCH had was 1968,......I don't ever Remember the school you & I went to as ever having been co-ed,.....even the first year in VCH,.the highschool had a Girl's side (with their own principal),....& a boys side ( with their own dictators)........hahahaha I don't recall our group as ever having to go to the old Saint Willibrord's HS......? I Remember it being an experiment to bring 7th grade to the school on Champlain,..and I beleive after the first year of that , they abandoned that idea,..and 8th grade was the earliest you could go to VCH,.........and then of course the fire in the old St W's HS ,just hastened the move to the Champlain building,.....but the old Boys school you & I went to ,.was still their doing it's thing wasn't it? I moved to Lasalle on Nov 1st '68,....but still went to VCH (till they suggested a change ............hahahahaha ) HF&RV
DannyB , I remember the girls always attending class in ,the old SWHS,....but I'm questioning myself now on whether I can Remember lining up in rows of two (Remember when the bell would ring,..and we had to stand still,..and then the second bell would ring and we would all go to our pre-designated spots and line up in two long rows per grade,....and we were orderly marched into the school,........but I do Remember the two entrances ,on the school yard side,.....those two large Concrete Stairways,.......on each end of the school............was one for 'girls'.....I Remember alsothe large assembly hall inside,....but my memory is divided now on whether we did have girls in the same school,.........I seem to Remember we used to have to wander over near the other school to even see the girls at recess ( and we weren't supposed to talk to them,I think).......they congregated more towards the Rielle side of the HS............... Update me DannyB......I think you have a better recollection,...........I'll have to come for a visit,and we'll grab a table in the old Laverendrye Pub ............and re-align our memory banks,..while proceeding to destroy them in the same time.........hahahahaha HF&RV
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Hi Les ! I appreciate very much your accurate and vivid description of your experience at St. Willibrord’s school. I lived the same discipline (with the Brothers of Sacred Heart). We also had the two-bell system at Ecole sup챕rieure Richard at 200 Galt. At the the new Ecole secondaire Richard on Champlain Blvd, corner Rielle (8 to 12 th grade), the discipline was more relaxed. JM
Hello Sandy,..yes your right that's the familiar steeples,..at Church & Wellington.......Do you Remember ,the library in the City Hall Bldg?,,, I can Remember getting my first library card,.it was such a big deal as a young kid,...that I now had a card that allowed me to get into the library,.and select books,..and the smell of the library,.and Rememeber How quiet we had to be........and getting a authouritive ....Ssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ,......from the Librarian,.when we got a little too loud for their comfort,.......hahahahaha Although libraries are much less restrictive nowadays,.they are still a relatively quiet refuse , should you want to want to look up something,..........although with all the access to the High Speed world of Inmternet,....I would imagine usage is slowing down,at the library.......I still place books on hold (on-line) and then pick them up at a preferred branch....Your mention of the 'wet clothing' reminded me of the 'Cloak Rooms' beside each classroom,.....where we left our boots,and coats,and schoolbags too........ Remember the smell of all the new schoolbags & leather shoes,.and book supplies,....at the very beginning of the year........along with those stencil smells that was mentioned last week,.....you always knew when a 'test' was coming cause the smell of the stencil was in the air..........or Remember the smell of the Nurse's office,....I don't think schools nowadays ,have a nurses office do they?........where you got to line up to get the 'scratches' on your back for some sort of vaccination..........probably just experimentation...........hahahahaha
If my memory is right, the whistle was usually used instead of the bell. (The brothers used the whistle, the nuns the bell)
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Are you still laughing Sandy,.....here's one smell that just popped in my head,...Remember when the janitors would sweep the halls with those extrordinarily wide brooms,.and they would use that stuff, called 'Dustbane' it was like a green coloured sawdust,.......and they also used it after cleaning up a kids lunch,after the kid decided he didn't want to keep it down any longer,...and deposited it in the hall or on the stairs............hahahahaha I do Rememeber something about washing the desk,...i don't know if we washed them as much as just cleaned them a bit,near our last day of school............BTW another familiar smell was apples ,that had been in someones' desk a little longer than an acceptable shelf life,,,,,,,,,,hahahahaha or an old lunch,......How about reading the names that had been carved into some of the desks,by our relatives over the years ( might have been a boys side thing),......but another memory that just came to me was using the eraser on something (maybe the desk......) and then sweeping the erasers remnants into the inkwell hole,.........hhahahahahaha .......except for very early grade school,.when they(the nuns) tried to teach us to use a pen with ink & nibs that you could change on the pen,........but mostly through my time in school ,.the inkwells sat empty,......although I do Remember those little jars of ink (blue ink) and the black metal screw on cap.......I think they just faded away with the advent 'of the 'new fangled pens' that you could just change tthe re-fill.........(long before BIC) HF&RV
Hi JMH,.....In our schools I Remember only the Cow Bell system,....and then later at VCH (on Champlain) we were alerted to classes by the ringing of a buzzer or firebell sound,.......but like I've mentioned before I skated very often at your old school on Galt Av,......and I do seem to Remember ,the brothers using a whistle,to get the attention of the kids in the schoolyard.......... I wonder if there are any pictures of the old Rink in that school on Galt........I grew up on that rink........hahahahaha and I won many a Stanley Cup scoring into those old square nets they had,....that we used to have to help oush to the side and place under that mezzanine (balcony/gallery).....where the brother used to come out on & tell us to go home for the night,............hahahahaha when the rink was going to be watered or cleaned ,the nets were placed temporarily on each side of that door in the center of your old school........................HF&RV
Hi Les ! About that photo of my old school, it was sometimes criticized because of the addition of the 3 flags on the roof. I think Brother Eus챔be was asked (charged ?) to draw those flags. Br. Eus챔be was a renowned artist in the Congregation of the Brothers of Sacred Heart. Here is a photo showing Br. Eus챔be (first on the left) and Mr. L챕vis Sauv챕 (first on the right) (who was teacher of physical education at my school, 202 Galt) Photo taken at Ecole secondaire Richard (Champlain Blvd) in ca 1959. JM
Hi Les, I did my 7th grade in the old high school and not the one on Champlain. You also had me laughing about the lining up outside after the cow bell rang the second time. I remember getting the strap for loosening the bell on Mr. Doyle ( I still don't know who squeeled on me ) but never the less we had a good laugh when he went tried to ring it hard and it fell apart. And I also remember that there was a line between the girls yard and the boys yard and you never crossed it or you would get killed or something worse they told us. There was a Sister ?? that used to gaurd it and she was mean. I think the fire was in 1968 or 1969 and after the fire there was only half day school days for the boys in the morning and afternoon for the girls. That was only for the higher grades I believe. And the next year they moved to the high school dungen next to the music room. Danny
Hi there ! Here’s another version of the old St. Willibrord’s school JM
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Hi Sandy, Yes I did loosen the bell. I was not the only person to do it over the years that I was there. It was to have the right chance to do it. The principal always left the bell on the window ledge as you went into the school. 90 % of the time he stayed in the yard with us kids but if he had to go inside he left the bell unattended and only came out at the last minute to ring it and never got the chance to check it. So you had to sneak in and loosen it without getting caught in the process. I was lucky but someone squeeled and if you can't do the time than don't do the crime so to speak. Danny
Well DannyB I can honestly say I can only ever Remember being in that school,.in their sort of basement gym ? and even that is very vague........but I went to VCH for the experimental year,...I wonder if they only had some of the classes try it out,....Remember there were at least 4or5 grade s ,...what with allthe a,b,c,d,e, Remember how they had like 1a,1b etc etc .....I know that they held so many people back in those days,...that grade 8 ,in VCHS,..had definetly 8a thru 8e,......just on the boys side,.... Here's 8e both Girls and Boys,..........if they kept us apart so much,How come there's so many of us...........hahahahahaha I guess that line down the center of the school yard wasn't high enough..........hahahahahahahah .........I think these were 8th graders for the 5th time.......hahahahahaha
Guy; Any chance of finding out who in the VC attended St. Willibrord most years ago ? Not sure what or how you could get this info, but might be intresting. HF & RV Gordo
Its funny how they took pictures back then looks like someone
living rather then a school.
Which year were these great photos taken?
Bill
Love cures people--both the ones who give it and the ones who receive
it.
--Karl Menninger
I like to see the old photos. What year was that?
Bill
The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure
and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.
--Albert Einstein
Hi...My Dad was a teacher at L'acadamie Richard for a few years. Does Anyone remember Mr. Leclerc ? His brother Benoit also went to school at St Willibroad. Jackie from Galt
Jackie, At what address did you live on Galt. I lived at 357 near Bannantyne from 1936 to 1953. Guy
I went to St Willibrod elmentary and high school with the nuns. I remember thar girls side very well. The stairs made squeaky noise in the high school. We did not move from class to class only the teachers did. I remember one time in 10th grade I went in with lipstick and nail polish and the nun made me rub it off. And those tunics they were so long that when we left the yard we would lift them up to a proper length lol. I also remember the ink wells as I had long braids and the girl behind me would put my braid in the ink well until my mom starting putting my braid up. I remember the bell to everyone had to get in line and go into the school. I went back this year and everything is so changed but the memories are still with me. Paul's candy store on Verdun ave, buying little bag of chips for 1 cent or a surprise candy bag and they would all be stuck inside it. I have good memories of growing up in Verdun.
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