HANSLER SCHOOL, SS 2, PELHAM

[Pelham Historical Calendar 1981]

The Original Hansler School was built by the Becketts in 1821, on property donated by Mr. Andrew Hansler. It had a good central location between “Beckett’s Mills and Temperanceville.” (Effingham and Fonthill) This school building was in use from 1821 until 1860. A second school was built in 1861 and opened in 1862, across the road from the first one, on property donated from the De La Mater farm, specifically for that purpose. We have no  idea of the appearance of the first school, but we do know about the second one. It was a  one-roomed brick building with a belfry and bell. An attractive porch ran right across the front, with a broad set of steps leading up to it. Of course, the boys and girls had separate entrances from the porch into the school itself.

The second school had a stove inside the classroom, and an outside woodshed where the fuel was stored. From one source, we get the impression that in the early days, the parents of the pupils supplied the wood. This school was apparently used for ninety-six years, because it was on June 28, 1958, that a note was made regarding the intention that the “school be boarded up.” However, it was torn down,. The opening of the third school took place in that September.

There were two classrooms in the new building, also two washrooms, a boiler room, storage room, and office.

Mrs. Marion Guinn continued as the principal. The trustees were Wilford Cook, who also served as Secretary-Treasurer, George Hicks, and William A. Rice. They did not know how few the active years would be, for this fine young building. In 1970, the school was closed and the windows boarded. No longer would children play in the schooolyard and enjoy the marvelous bank of trees to the west, which could be a veritable blaze of glory in the autumn!

Well before 1842, travelling Methodist ministers held their services in the first school, until the Methodist Church was erected in Fonthill. Among those courageous preachers was the Rev, John Ryerson, brother of the educator, Egerton Ryerson.

It is of interest, financially speaking, to find that the coal bill for the year 1919 amounted to $72.10, while the  teacher, Mr. G.E. Beckett, received $70.00 a month. In 1923, a chair was purchased from J.T Romp, for exactly $3.00. Perhaps it was a special one, for the visiting Inspector, or even for the teacher’s desk. The teacher-principal at the time was Miss Mary Bowman who had been engaged in 1920.

There is a happy ending to our story, because Mr. and Mrs Wayne Johnson purchased the property in August, 1979, and enjoy living there with their two children, Tamera and Trevor. Mrs. Johnson is operating a school for pre-schoolers there, under the delightful name of “The Children’s Village.”