This ongoing series showcases historic photos in the Collingwood Museum collection, with research and writing by Melissa Shaw, the museum supervisor.
As local students enter their final week of the 2023-2024 school year, it seems timely to explore an end-of-school celebration that is documented in the Collingwood Museum’s photograph collection.
Late spring field trips are a sure sign that the school year is coming to a close.
On the last Friday of May in 1915, students from Victoria School participated in a field trip to exhibition park, the current location of the Central Park Arena, Curling Club, and YMCA on Hume Street. From the location of Victoria School at the corner of Sixth and Maple Streets, this would have been about a 12-minute, or 900m walk.
Regardless of the students’ exact walking route, they would have passed many residences that continue to stand today.
They would be surprised, however, to find that their own school is mostly absent. The original school building, constructed in 1883, was demolished in 1969. What remains is the 1897 addition that accommodated four classrooms and is now part of the Victoria Annex development at 400 Maple Street.
Upon arriving at the park, the students would have been greeted by the large, wide-open green space that was used for Collingwood’s annual agricultural fair, the Great Northern Exhibition, for nearly 100 years. There was more than enough space for the games and activities documented in today’s featured photographs.
In 1915, the exhibition building served additional functions as an armoury for the Department of Defense, and as a hockey rink for local residents. While no evidence of military activity is visible in the background of this photograph series, just one month earlier a group of soldiers arrived in Collingwood from Barrie to stay at the park.
Canada had been at war for more than six months when these photographs were taken, and soldiers were becoming a relatively routine sight in town.
The exact activities of the students’ 1915 excursion are unknown, but it seems the boys and girls celebrated separately as none of the photographs show the groups mixing at any one time. Like many schools from this era, Victoria School had separate entrances for boys and girls and it seems that this separation carried well beyond the way they entered and exited their school building.
To all students celebrating this week, have a safe and enjoyable summer vacation.
