Victoria Academy, Merton, 1896 (S.S. #15, Merton, Halton County)
Description
- Mystery Question
- Do you have information on "Victoria Academy" at Merton, Halton County?[Please answer by clicking on the Comments tab]
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Type
- Photographs
- Description
- The back of this photograph is most interesting because someone has written all the names of the people in the photo and they have also written, "Attendants of Victoria Academy - 1896. Merton - County of Halton".
This is the same building as S.S. #15, Merton, as evidenced in other school photographs - groups are usually posed between the same windows.
If you have information on Merton's "Victoria Academy", please use the "Comments" section of this record to contact us. Thank you.
Merton school was first a log building. A brick one, S.S.#15, was built in 1857 that was later demolished to make way for the highway, and a third school was built in 1923 that closed in 1958 when the new Palermo Public School on Old Bronte Road was opened. The few Merton area children went north to the new multi-classroomed school.
The school was active in the life of the community with literary and drama clubs, and an active Home and School Association.
Sir Thomas White who was Canada's finance minister during World War I and was acting Prime Minister when Borden attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference had been a student at S.S. #15.
Dr. A.H. Speers who became Medical Officer of Health for Burlington also attended the school at Merton. - Notes
- Merton boundaries were present day Burloak Drive to 3rd Line, the railway tracks near Lake Ontario north to Upper Middle Road. The intersection of Bronte Road (originally called Station Road) and the Queen Elizabeth Way (formerly Lower Middle Road) was the centre of the Merton area.
The Merton area (Lots 26-35 2SDS Trafalgar) was settled as early as 1810. The first settlers were David Utter, Joseph Smith, William Bates, Cornelius Tipps and Henry Cale. The name "Merton" was likely chosen to commemorate Lord Nelson (his English home with Lady Hamilton was "Merton Place") as other local villages had chosen Bronte and Palermo. The post office remained open until 1917 when it was replaced by rural mail service from Bronte.
(The 1858 Tremaine map also shows a Merton at Appleby Line and Dundas in Nelson Township. Library and Archives Canada records show this post office opened in 1852, the post master resigned later in 1858, a new post master was appointed in early 1859 but again closed at the death of the post master later that year, then re-opened in April 1865 with the appointment of a new post-master. In September 1865, it was renamed to "Lothian".
The Library and Archives Canada records have the record of another "Merton" post office - this one in Trafalgar Township with John Sheridan being appointed post master in December 1883 and his continuous service until his resignation in August 1917. This record fits the description of the Trafalgar Township "Merton" around the present day QEW and Third Line.) - Date of Publication
- 1896
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- From left to right, starting with the back row: Frank Atkison, Ed Sheridan, Mary Pickett, Barbara McPherson, Jessie Mitchell, J.E. Reid, Ellie Sheridan, Ina Hubbert, May Hodgins, Annie McPherson, Gertie Mitchell, Lloyd Kennedy, Jim Pickett, Earle Hodgins, James Luscombe, Annie Pickett, Josephine Harrod, Teenie Breckon, Charlie Black, Burton Cawley, Georgs Hubbert, Irene Laughry, Grant McPherson, Willie Hubbert, Arthur Shephard, John Pickett, Tom Hubbert, Gordon Breckon, Flossie Hodgins, Alley Breckon, Isa Luscombe, Lina Shephard, Mack McPherson, Jos Pickett, Lizzie Laughtry, Kate McPherson.
- Local identifier
- TTDH000399
- Collection
- Trafalgar Township Historical Society
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Merton:
Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.41301761903 Longitude: -79.7404384234619
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Merton:
- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Recommended Citation
- Victoria Academy, Merton, 1896 (S.S. #15, Merton, Halton County)
- Contact
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Trafalgar Township Historical Society Sponsor: Jeff Knoll, Local & Regional Councillor for Oakville Ward 5 – Town of Oakville/Regional Municipality of Halton
