The Transition to a new school on Casimir Avenue.

 

Secondary education has been taught in Dryden as early as 1905. At that time, the elementary school teacher taught the Grade 9 and 10 curriculums to a few pupils along with the elementary students. ?All the students from kindergarten to Grade 10 were in the same classroom.

In 1912 the first building to be used primarily as a secondary school was a vacated church on the North East corner of Princess and Van Horne Avenue.

By 1919, the enrolment of continuation school students had increased to the extent that the church was partitioned into two classrooms.

Mrs. Sybil Willard, a long time educator, now deceased, had previously related her secondary school memories in the old church:

We were able to complete Junior Matriculation there and many of us proceeded to Normal School. Teachers and students operated under difficulty as there were only two rooms. Separating them was a flimsy partition with cracks large enough to permit one class to poke the members of the other class with their rulers while working at the blackboard. On one occasion, classes were dismissed for the day because of a smoking stove. Later it was discovered that some of the boys had stuffed their socks into the stove pipes

Secondary education continued in the church building until 1922, when Albert Street School opened. The Continuation school students then used the Van Horne Building (now the municipal offices) as their school from 1923 until 1951. While the school offered only second class matriculation (equivalent to Grade 12), it was known as DCS, Dryden Continuation School. When it became a high school in 1935, offering first class matriculation (Grade 13 equivalent) the building was known as DHS, Dryden High School.

By the 1940s, the school had become exceedingly overcrowded. Over 200 students were housed in 3 rooms in the Van Horne Building and another 3 rooms in the adjacent annex, which was known as the chicken coop. Physical education classes were held in the Youth Center, (the Teen Canteen) which was located across town by the Wabigoon River. In 1949 a fourth building, the Van Horne Community Hall (located on King Street)was refurbished and opened as a classroom. In short, DHS was not a single entity, but rather a campus that was spread out all over Dryden. To make matters worse, Dryden was experiencing rapid economic growth after the War, and enrolment was predicted to dramatically increase in the following years.

Dryden Citizens Vote to Reject a Plebiscite calling for a new School

In 1945, a by-law was passed by the ratepayers authorizing the construction of a new school costing $150,000. However, this sum proved to be insufficient as the lowest tender came in at $210,000. In 1947, a plebiscite asking tax payers in Dryden to support a school costing $225,000 was defeated. In the opinion of the citizens of Dryden at the time, a new Secondary School was not seen as priority for the town.

Perhaps an understanding of the economic conditions in Dryden during the 1920s and 1930s will give us better insight into why the taxpayers rejected a tax increase that would have been used to construct a new school. During the roaring 20s when the global economy was booming, The Dryden Paper Company encountered financial difficulties and went into receivership. (Receivership means that a third party such as bank took ownership of the mill in an attempt to rescue it from bankruptcy)

At that time, incomes for families employed at the mill virtually disappeared and many families experienced extreme poverty. The 1920s were followed by the Great Depression, which further impoverished the people in Dryden. It is conceivable that the fight for subsistence was still fresh in the memories of the people in Dryden and this built a great resistance for anything that involved a tax increase.

Undeterred, The Dryden Board continued to solicit for extra funds to build a new school. Many delegates were sent to Toronto to elicit funding for a new school. A very concerted effort to obtain adequate funding from the province for the new school was made by The Chairman of the Board of Education, Norman Howe.

Finally, the tide was turned in the fight to fund the school! A visit from a Department of Education Official during one of the coldest days in the winter secured the funding for the new school.

The ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone of the new school structure took place on November 10th, 1949. Mr. D.E. Scott (a very popular and influential teacher) was chairman of the proceedings. The entire student body watched as Mr. Norman Howe, chairman of the Board of Education, used a silver trowel that symbolized the work of a bricklayer.? Mr. Alexander McIntyre read a list of the mementos that had been enclosed in the corner-stone to be that was to be opened 50 years later.

The architect was F.W. Warren of Hamilton, Ontario and the contractor was the Pilkey-Noble Construction Company. Although the new building was to be occupied in the fall of 1950, construction ceased during the winter of 1949-50 because the extremely cold weather that made bricklaying impossible.

The new school on Casimir Avenue had six classrooms, a room for Home Economics, a general shop class, a library, a commercial class and a large gymnasium/auditorium.? The final cost was $300,000.

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What was $300,000 worth in 1951?

         2 dozen oranges cost 65 cents

         Lamb chops sold for 99 cents a pound

         A 2 year subscription with the Dryden Observer cost $6.00

         Cotton and wool Mens Dress Socks sold for 29 cents a pair at Eatons Department store in Winnipeg.

         During the early 1950s there were no foreign car makers in North America. Some of the common models at that time were the Packard (Clipper) costing $3441, the De Soto costing $3,250, The Hudson costing $3,895, the Henry J costing $1953, and if you were willing to splurge, a brand new Cadillac cost $4,938.

The rapid economic growth that Dryden was experiencing during the early 1950s caused an increase in the enrolment at the school and this necessitated that Dryden High undertake another expansion. Five rooms (rooms 105-109) were added in 1955 at a cost of $140,470. Bergman and Nelson of Kenora constructed this addition.

In 1960 a second floor addition of 5 rooms (rooms 209-213) was added at a cost of $120,876. Stead and Lindstrom of Kenora was the general contractor.

Next came the vocational wing (rooms 301-308 and Gym 2, later to be named in honour of Gordon Wood) built in 1963 by Saville Construction. This same contractor added another 8 rooms (rooms 110 113 on the first floor and rooms 214-217 on the second floor) in 1964. By this time enrolment was 880 pupils with 58 staff members.

 

During Ralph McNaughtons principalship, the entire center section was renovated with an elevator installed. The front courtyard was landscaped by staff, students and the Board of Education.

Finally, during 1997-1998 a 6-7 million dollar refurbishment of the center portion of the school and the technical wing occurred. The Grand Opening took place on February 19, 1999.