EPISODE 666 GIBRALTAR SCHOOL, FIFTH LINE, ESQUESING TWP, HALTON COUNTY…near Limehousel

Begin forwarded message:

From: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch1@gmail.com>

Date: March 7, 2023 at 1:09:08 PM EST

EPISODE 777 GIBRALTAR SCHOOL…NEAR VILLAGE OF LIMEHOUSE, FIFTH LINE, ESQUESING TWP. HALTON COUNTY

alan skeoch

march 2023

Hardly a typical country schoolhouse. Gibraltar School must at one time been surrounded by

smal farms , perhaps a village….enough people to provide for a stone built school …two stories high.

Now in 2023 Gibraltar School has been totally renovated as a private home but the renoVations

did not change the appearance of the old school house. Behind the school is the Niagara Escarpment.

MY NOMINATION: PRETTIEST 19TH CENTURY ONTARIO SCHOOLHOUSE

The two-storey stone School Section #9, known as Gibraltar is on the 5th Line. The second storey was added to the 1862 building in 1875.

It was closed from 1891 until 1954.

COMMENTS

1) WHY was a second storey built on a school with less than 20 students ? Did teacher live there? Usually in the 19th and early 20th century the

teacher lived on a nearby farm. And, by the way, the teacher was expected to be a paragon of virtue.

2) Why was the school so well built…stone building.

3) Why was the school built a mile from the village of Limehouse. Isolated. Lucky because the village of Limehouse caught fire

and most buildings were lost.

4) Why has this one room school survived when dozens, probably hundreds have not? (recently restored as a private home)

5) All the school records were lost when water damaged! Well, not all, because years ago I found some records

that put flesh and blood into the life of Gibraltar School…found on internet after following digital trails for a few days. Must find again

because those records made the school come alive.

6) Wy was school named Gibraltar? 19th century British victory in Napoleonic Wars…and subsequent mass emigration

to Canada…I assume.

This is the road where the school sits….empty … some farms ,,,straight ahed is the quaint village of Limehouse

where the new school exists and thrives.

Gibraltar School Students

1948 Class, Miss Jean Ruddell )teacher)

1944 – woodshed or stable in back of school

PaintIng of A meeting with school trustees, by Robert Harris

..19TH century,

Note: Much more to this story … perhaps I will find records.

alan

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