›› Eramosa S.S. #9

The Municipal Council of the Township of Eramosa formed School Section #9 in 1872. The initial decision was to rent the Town Hall for $10 per month.

At the annual school meeting in 1873, it was decided that the site for the new school should be on the north-west side of Guelph Street, opposite the Rockwood Agricultural Grounds. The school was contracted for $3,700. Furnaces were installed in two rooms of the school and the third room had a stove.

In August 1909 cement walks and steps were laid while the village was putting a cement sidewalk past the school, and in April 1910 slate blackboards were installed.

In 1921 the trustees started high school in Rockwood and a third public school room opened by September 1923.

Electric lights were installed in 1928. The school was enlarged in 1930 to provide three rooms on the ground floor for the public school and three above for the continuation school. Steam heat was installed.

Although many one-room schools survived amalgamation (reincarnated as private residences) in 1967 by Rockwood Centennial School, S.S. #9 was torn down in 1968 and a seniors’ residence was built on the property.

Photos courtesy of the Guelph-Eramosa Township Archives. For more information see Eramosa Anecdotes, by Deborah Quaile (Ayton: Wordbird Press, 2007).