Spring 2022 Red Blazer

Bulletin Board Tempus Fugit

St. Clement’s School hasn’t always been the only school on the block.

With its original brick structure dating back to 1850, it is one of the oldest buildings in north Toronto and a long-time neighbour of St. Clement’s. Having leased the Hall’s western property for use as our playground for some time, the recent acquisition of the building and its landmeans that for the first time in 135 years, one of the area’s oldest buildings will once again be part of a school.

In 1842 , the Village of Eglinton constructed a one-room log cabin schoolhouse on the south-west corner of Yonge and St. Clements as the home for the Eglinton School. Intended to serve the local farming community, it remained in place until destroyed by fire eight years later when it was re-built with bricks. In 1887, the pupils were relocated to the larger Eglinton Public School on Erskine Avenue and the building became an Anglican Church and a Presbyterian Church before its purchase by members of the Orange Lodge in 1908. The Orange Lodge jacked-up the building and towed it several metres west to reduce the higher property taxes payable for a building located directly on Yonge Street. They also added a vestibule to the front, raised the windows, and built a kitchen and shed.

44 | Red Blazer Spring 2022

Powered by