History
The high school which eventually became known as the Guelph Collegiate and Vocational Institute (GCVI) was founded in the early-mid-19th century by John Galt, also the founder of Guelph, Ontario (1827). The school was originally housed in a large four window log building known as "the Priory"; itself one of the first buildings constructed in Guelph. In 1854 the school moved to its current site on Paisley Road due to the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway.
The original building on the new site was torn down after a few decades and a new school constructed. Eventually a wooden gymnasium was added in 1886, and the school remained the same until 1906, when a large new wing was added to the left of the bell tower.
Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute had Canada's first high school lunch cafeteria.
By this time the school was developing a reputation second to none in the province. Finally, by the nineteen twenties there were serious problems with overcrowding. In 1923 a new building opened (constructed at a cost of $400,000) that included modern plumbing, a massive skylight covering the large, two story, open auditorium area. It was called the most modern and upscale school building in Ontario.
The older buildings were connected to the school and used periodically before they were torn down in 1962 to facilitate several more additions including a modern gym, business and science wing, and tech wings.
Over the years tens of thousands of students have passed through the halls of GCVI, and many have left a memorable and distinct mark on the history of Canada.
Accomplished alumni include: Col. John McCrae (Author of “In Flanders Fields.”), Hugh C. Guthrie (Canadian federal opposition leader, leader of the Conservative Party), Ed Joliffe (one of three GCVI Rhodes Scholars and founder of the Ontario CCF, and opposition leader in the Ontario House), George Alexander Drew (Mayor of Guelph, Premier of Ontario, Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, Leader of the Conservative Party, Ambassador to the UK, founding chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission, World War I hero).
A bronze plaque memorial dedicated to Col John McCrae was erected by the Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute.
Read more about this topic: Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“The history of literature—take the net result of Tiraboshi, Warton, or Schlegel,—is a sum of a very few ideas, and of very few original tales,—all the rest being variation of these.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Every member of the family of the future will be a producer of some kind and in some degree. The only one who will have the right of exemption will be the mother ...”
—Ruth C. D. Havens, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)