Key Number:	HS 30182
Site Name:	Haultain School
Other Names:	South Ward School
Site Type:	0314 - Educational: School

Location

ATS Legal Description:

			Twp	Rge	Mer
			23	1	5

Address:	225 - 13 Avenue SW
Number:	25
Street:	2 SW
Avenue:	13 SW
Other:
Town:	Calgary
Near Town:

Media

Type	Number	Date	View	Source

Architectural

Style:
Plan Shape:
Storeys:	Storeys: 1
Foundation:	Basement/Foundation Wall Material: Stone
Superstructure:	Stone
Superstructure Cover:
Roof Structure:	High Gable
Roof Cover:
Exterior Codes:
Exterior:	Sandstone.
Interior:	N/A
Environment:	Located in one of the few open areas in the Beltline District. Lot size: 375' x 140'. Located in an undergoing rapid redevelopment.
Condition:	Structure: Good. Repair: Good. 16 JAN 1980.
Alterations:	N/A

Historical

Construction:	Construction Date:
School	1894/01/01
Usage:	Usage Date:
School workshop School offices School Storage	1894/01/01 1960/01/01
Owner:	Owner Date:
Calgary Public School Board

Architect:	J.L. Wilson of Child and Wilson.
Builder:	Thomas Underwood
Craftsman:	N/A
History:	Named after Frederick Haultain, one of the earliest inhabitants of Calgary. Arrived 1884. Premier from 1892-1905. D r. Melville Scott - first Superintendent of Calgary used building for office. - Oldest school standing in Calgary. - Controversy over original date of construction; the school B.D. Minutes show that it was to be completed by 1894, although the date over the portal reads 1892 - this was put there in 1922. - Originally called South Ward School, it was later called Haultain as was the adjacent larger school built in 1906 - 1907. - The larger school remained in operation until 1962 and burned to the ground in 1964. - The older 2-room school was used for classrooms until 1914 when it was turned into a school-board workshop. From 1922, it was used as a gym, classrooms and storage. - In 1922, the original frame entrance was torn down and a stone entrance added. - Owned by the Calgary Public School board. - From 1910-1914 it was the centre of educational policy in Calgary. * * * Haultain (originally South Ward) School was constructed in 1893 to meet the education needs of students located south of the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks. Expansion in this area during the 1890s extended south to 17 Avenue, east to the Elbow River and west to 8th Street. Children from three distinct economic classes would attend the same school: the children of the elite mansion owners, the C.P.R. workers and the newly arrived immigrants. The completion of South Ward School marked the end of Calgary's first decade of education development, corresponding with the town's growth since the arrival of the C.P.R. During that time Calgary had achieved the formal establishment of a public system with reasonably adequate accommodations for the students and set up classes in the senior standards of the North-West Territories program of study based on the Ontario system. The school program covered eight standards or grades, the first five being classified as Public School and the last three as High School. In addition to the academic program offered by the school, it also offered other activities such as a cadet cops which was started in 1898. This program was initiated by Sergeant Bagley of the North-West Mounted police three years earlier and included regular military instruction, physical exercise, and practice in the use and care of firearms. A pioneer program of industrial and manual training for boys of the higher grades was also introduced in 1901 under the MacDonald-Lloyd Training fund. This national program was started by James W. Robertson, Dominion Dairy Commissioner, and philanthropist Sir William Macdonald. The program was to provide a practical education by offering woodworking for boys and sewing for girls. Locally the possibility of opening a manual training school was discussed with the Trustees and after the idea was accepted, classes were first conducted in a room at the South Ward School, which was briefly called the manual Training School. However, in 1902 a wooden structure was erected elsewhere to hold the classes. With increasing enrolment after 1900, a new ten room school was constructed on the same site in 1907. After the new school was built the original South Ward School was used as a workshop by the building Department of the board from 1907 to 1910 and again from 1914 to 1922 and as the office for Dr. Melville Scott the first superintendent of the Public School System from 1910 to 1914. From 1922 until its closure in 1962 it was used for storage, as classroom space and as an auditorium depending on the demand for classroom space.

Internal

Designation Status:	Designation Date:
Provincial Historic Resource	2004/05/05

Register:	05-100

Links

Internet:
Alberta Register of Historic Places:	4665-0737