School Section #5 Moore – Corunna School

School Section #5 Moore was the village school serving the children of Corunna, as well as those from as far south as the 8th Line (now Rokeby Line), as far north as Froomefield and as far east along the 10th Line (now Petrolia Line) as what is now Hwy. 40.  The first building was board and batten and was constructed in 1869 on the corner of Hill and Lyndoch Streets. 

Corunna Public School 1893

Photographs from various time periods indicate that the building was re-sided with clapboard in the late 1890s (or a new building was built and the 1869 signboard re-installed on the new one).

S. S. #5 Moore – Corunna School – 1903 schoolyard scene
Corunna School S. S. #5 1903 Back Row: ?, ?, ?, ?, Gordon Buery, Ed Warwick, Ella Ward, Elsie Carstairs, Robena Bell, Genevive Warwick, Jas. Berdan, Brian Maw, Art Harrold, ?, Lee Boucher. 2nd Row: Carrie Parker, Lorain Mcguire, Mae Krone, Miss Seed, M. Bell, Ivy Harrold, Myrtle Clysdale, F. Krone, Irene Curran, Beryl Porter, Mildred Buery, Miss Gauld, Eva Stone, Bertha Clysdale, G. Mcquire, Beatrice Proctor. 3rd Row: Blanche Harrold, Lula Proctor, Ruth Protor, Irene Morrison, Muriel Clysdale, Della Roan, Grace McRae, Cassie Krone, Isabell McRae, Lucy Curran 4th Row: Leah Heffron, Ethel Boucher, ? Clysdale, ?Gilbert, George Clysdale, Harry Curran, ?, ?, ?, Allie Berdan, Clarence or Pete Porter, Wes Maw, Cliff Morrison, ?, ?, ? Gilbert. Front Row: ?, Stuart Thompson, Byron Stone, Lawrence Clysdale, ? Clysdale, Lizzie Maw, Hannah Urquhart, Flossie Drew, ? Proctor, Clara Maw, Hazel Davidson, Edna Boucher.
S. S. #5 – Corunna Public School – 1917 Front Row (left to right): Hope Watson, Lila Watson, Ruth Hicks, Olive Warwick, Jean Needham, Margaret Gowling, Neil Scott, Alan Quinn, Omar McRae, Bobby Rector, Robert McRae. Second Row: Lyle Phillips, Jimmy Riddell, Omar Strangway, Fred Warwick, Lloyd Hicks, Elmer McRae. 3rd Row: Mary Skeoch (teacher), Louise Needham, Norma Watson, Marguerite Taylor, Margaret Wilson, Patricia Shea, Margaret Shea, Anna Watson, Orm Seward, Melvin Warwick, MacLean Morrison, Morley Lang, Cowan Warwick, Inez Grant (teacher) 4th Row: Levine or Lorine Warwick, Grace Taylor, Evelyn Cassin, Mary Callum, Isabelle McKellar, Alice Riddell, Bill Scott, Harry Seward, Carmen Wilson, Winifred Smith, Maynard Warwick, Donald McKellar

According to writer Jean Elford, who attended this school in the 1920s, it was built as a one-room school, but large numbers of students later necessitated dividing the room with a thin partition with a door in it.  She noted that the senior room was on the east end of the building and was heated by wood, but the junior room had a “jacketed gas heater” which apparently produced little in the way of heat!

Corunna Public School undated photo

A two-storey brick building was erected in 1929 and enlarged in 1949.  In the mid-1950s, Murray Street School was built nearby, and this school became Hill Street Senior School, housing the grade 7 and 8 students for Corunna and area.  Hill Street had the distinction of being the only senior elementary school in the Lambton County School Board. This school closed in 1997 and the structure now serves as the Emergency Services Building for St. Clair Township.

 

Sources:

History of the Corunna Region 1600 – 1900.  Written and Published by Grade 8A of Hill Street Public School in 1972.

Elford, Jean.  “A look at the past:  Christmas in Corunna school”.  The Gazette. Dec. 23, 1974.  pg. 18

Morden,  Paul.  “Hill St. School:  Former teachers and students say goodbye to an old friend”.  Sarnia Observer, June 9, 1997.

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