Fenelon Falls Public School Opened, 1869
In Upper Canada most schooling was voluntary, especially in rural areas. By today’s standards, children grew up young, and were often at work as soon as they were able to help their parents. It was often said, that it was better for a young boy to have a strong back than a strong mind—a lifetime of hard physical labour awaited him. Most girls could expect a lifetime of domestic work. A large proportion of the population had limited literacy.
To the extent that there was schooling, it was typically done by volunteers as an act of charity. Near Fenelon Falls, the first recorded volunteer teachers were Anne Langton (arrived 1837) and her Anglican minister, Rev. Thomas Fidler (arrived December 1839). By March 1840, Anne Langton wrote that Fidler was teaching 28 students, "some much more advanced in years and accomplishments than mine." Fidler taught his classes at the Anglican Church, while Anne instructed from her home at Blythe. At the time, there was no expectation that children must attend school, so attendance was spotty—because of the need for child labour, weather, road conditions and the general absence of clocks or watches. Fidler drowned when his boat was swept over Fenelon Falls on May 15, 1847.
By 1848, Fenelon Falls had a school building, but there is no known surviving description of it—it was presumably a log structure, with a single room. By the 1860s, Fenelon Falls was becoming much more populous and prosperous. The surrounding countryside, which had been sparsely settled at first, was slowly developing into farms. Before long, most lots had been taken up and some were beginning to take shape as farms. Large-scale lumber and timber exports were also becoming practical with the construction of a railway to Lindsay.
On August 29, 1868, Fenelon Township Council borrowed $2000 to build a new brick schoolhouse at Fenelon Falls. Completed in 1869, School Section #3 Fenelon was the largest school in the township, with three paid teachers, including a male staff member who had an annual salary "as high as $500," which was a generous amount in those days. In the early 1870s, school attendance became compulsory and before long, there were 374 students attending the school. In March 1876, Peterborough architect John E. Belcher designed an addition, which was complete by August, allowing a new teacher to be hired for the next school year. By 1884, the school was again full, leading to the construction of a second school south of the river. Planned by Lindsay’s William Duffus, it used stone from the canal, being the only stone school constructed in Victoria County. Today it is the Masonic Lodge.
The original brick Fenelon Falls public school continued in service until 1953. For a few years, the Brandon House (northwest corner of Louisa and Colborne Streets) had supplemented the old school, which by then was undersized and out of date. It had just four classrooms and never did have indoor washrooms. In 1852, the Brandon House was demolished to make way for a new Fenelon Falls Public School, which was complete in 1953 and served until 1990. The 1869 school has been repurposed many times over the years as the Fenelon Falls Gazette office, a laundromat, the Pop Shoppe, Matthews & Associates, McColl Turner and more recently an apartment building.
