›› Eramosa S.S. #1

By Deb Quaile

In 1842 Rockwood pioneer John Harris and his fellow school commissioners decided to use James Gerow’s land at the north corner of lot 5, con. 1 for a log school and employed Cornelius Sheehan as the first teacher for £4 per month for nine months a year.

In 1845 a stone school was built and the old log school was turned into a teacher’s residence.

As of December 31, 1851, 155 children between the ages of five and 16 resided in the school section for No. 1, but luckily for teacher Patrick Downey only an average of 40-odd attended each day. Although some students attended every day that they could (the highest record in 1856 being for 210 days), others attended as little as two days or two weeks per year.1

At this time the section included “all the land lying between the townline of Guelph, the Eramosa road, the line on which Rockwood is situated” and some land to the south in Nassagaweya (Eden Mills actually crossed the boundary of the townships of Nassagaweya and Eramosa).2 Oddly, a school was not constructed in the hamlet of Eden Mills.

In 1868 a larger stone building was erected at an approximate cost of $1000. Its first teacher resided in the old stone school after it was turned into a residence.

In 1942 improvements such as a fence, proper front lawn, cedar hedge and flower bed were made to the grounds. “This beautified the grounds to such an extent that the trophy for the best improved school grounds for Wellington County was awarded to S.S. No. 1 Eramosa in 1944,” noted the General Register from 1945-1947. By 1951, the increased population made it necessary to have Grades 7 and 8 bussed to Rockwood.

S.S.#1 was demolished when all its pupils were sent to the new Rockwood Centennial School.

 

---

Hazel Mack. History of Eden Mills and Vicinity. Eden Mills: Private publication, 1954, pg. 30-32.

Eramosa S.S.#1, General Register, 1934-1946. Copies of school registers are held in the Wellington County Museum archives. According to Hazel Mack, children from the south end of Eden Mills in Nassagaweya attended No. 5 School on 2 nd Line, built in 1874. It was located on part of the west half of lot 29, con. 3. A previous small school building had resided beside No. 5 before 1879.

Image of S.S.#1 from History of Eden Mills and Vicinity, by Hazel Mack (Eden Mills: Private publication, 1954). For more information see Eramosa Anecdotes, by Deborah Quaile (Ayton: Wordbird Press, 2007).