See also the Historic Time Line, Recent History Time Line, List of Teachers and Students, and various links indicated below.
The Historic Bearspaw School was built in 1920, and is the last remaining school of the four schools that were built in the farming district between Calgary and Cochrane in the early part of the last century:- the Bearspaw, Glendale, Lochend and Westminster Schools. Map shows where the schools were located. There was several thousand one room school houses used in Canada from about 1850 to about 1965.
The school was given the name Bearspaw after the name of the section of CPR railway line down by the Bow River, about 2km to the south. Bearspaw was the translated name of an Indian Chief at Morley, a village about 20km to the west.
In 1919, six local farmers formed a committee to request the formation of a school for the education of their children, and this was granted with the formation of School District 3851 (see Taming the Prairie Wool). In June of 1920, a contract was given to a Mr. Cuddie to construct the school and by September it was to be ready for occupancy, and it was. In the early years, the school closed down in January and March and ran through the summer. In 1936, the school was lifted and placed onto a full basement. This allowed the installation of a coal-fired, gravity furnace, which was far warmer than the small in-room heater used to that time. Construction of the basement required the addition of the emergency exit stairwell on the south end of the school. The furnace was eventually changed to a propane, forced air furnace. Electricity came to the school in 1951 with rural electrification. Prior to that time, any events in the evenings relied on the farmers bringing their oil lamps, which were hung on hooks from the ceiling. Warming the school must have been a problem in the cold winter days, as there was never any insulation in the school.
In 1930, a horse barn was built alongside the school for student horses, and in about 1940, a teacherage was moved in alongside the school for the teacher (see Photo Album).
For 45 years the school was the most important building in Bearspaw. It was used as a school, community centre, for political meetings, as a meeting hall, place of worship and for dances. Over the years, it educated the children of the local residents, most of whom were farmers. Indeed this school attracted families to the area and so it played a major role in the growth of Bearspaw. Life at the school is covered in Life at the School.
In 1965 the school closed and children were bussed to the larger schools in Cochrane. In 1967, the land and school were sold to the Bearspaw Lions Club, its building being on the adjacent land. The school and land sold for the sum of $432, a very reasonable price at the time. In 1998, the Lions decided that they wanted the school removed from their land, so that they could expand their very popular Farmers’ Market, and threatened to demolish the school if no one was interested in it. After much discussion, the Lions agreed to donate the school to the Bearspaw Historic Society provided that the Society move the building. What happened next is described in “Where we are at”.
The Historic School will be restored to its original condition, to the 1950s time period, and upgraded to current safety and fire codes for public buildings. The original teacherage and eventually the original barn, which sat alongside the school back in the 1930’s and 1940’s will be moved back alongside the school to make a unique historic site.
The facility will be preserved as an historic site for the education of the children of Rocky View and Calgary and the enjoyment of the people of Alberta and visitors.