Remembering Fleetwood School

Lethbridge, Alberta

1911 — 1971

In August 1910 the tender submitted by Smith Brothers and Wilson was accepted and soon construction began.
This early photo, taken from approximately where the Lethbridge Public Library is today, shows the start of construction in the distance.

A souvenir booklet published for the official opening of Fleetwood in the fall of 1911 states:

"The walls are of pressed brick, trimmed with grey stone from the quarries in Monarch. It contains eight classrooms in addition to the teachers room, library, principal's room and auditorium. One of the features of the school is the broad entrance hall to which the main and the pupil entrances lead. From this, easy stairways with noisless stone-wood treads, run to the upper floors."

Do you remember how first thing every morning and afternoon the whole school would meet in 'the broad entrance hall' for opening exercises?

As I recall the library was mainly a collection of National Geographic magazines used as an incentive (especially for the boys) to get your work done so you could enjoy some free reading.

In the early 1970s as the old school was being demolished I made a daily photo record of its demise.

Please note:- This slideshow is in Quicktime - A free player is available here

Here are some class photos from the Fleetwood years I remember.
If you can help with the identification, please contact us at hrc@ourheritage.net

1949 - 1950 — Grade 8

1948 - 1949 — Grade 7

1947 - 1948 — Grade 6

1946 - 1947 — Grade 5

1945 - 1946 — Grade 4

1944 - 1945 — Grade 3

1943 - 1944 — Grade 2

1942 - 1943 — Grade 1

Note: I don't have a grade 1 or 3 picture in my collection. The grade 2 picture is fuzzy and does not have the teacher in it (Miss Jean Galbraith). I expect she took the picture with her own camera and that no official school pictures were taken during these war years. Any ideas on this?