School Days

This picture was taken in front of King Edward School in June of 1955. This is my Grade 1 class, and I am seated in the back row forth from the left hand side of the picture. King Edward School was built in 1912, one of 19 sandstone schools built in Calgary between 1894 and 1914. It is in the district of South Calgary, my uncle Fred, and my dad's best friend, Jim Atkinson went to school here the first year it was opened. My father attended the second year. I was in school here from grade 1 until grade 9 in the summer of 1964. The the school was a block and a half from my home so it was a short walk to school for me. Due to declining enrollment in the school was closed in 2001, and it looks like it will be torn down. With the real estate of one city block it will probably be developed for housing, unless someone comes to the rescue and finds another use for the building. The school as I mentioned was built of sandstone, a popular building material for many of the buildings in Calgary in that era, Calgary was called the "Sandstone City" but sadly many of these buildings have faced the wrecking ball, and are no more. I have also attached a picture by Alison Jackson showing the back of the school on 29th Ave. The girls side ones on the left, and the boys side on the right. During the summer holidays the top of the fire escape made an excellent viewpoint to watch the fireworks from the Calgary Stampede, a rodeo and fair, that is held in early July.