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1854 - Centennial - 1954 Photo by W. Murkar HISTORY OF BASE LINE SCHOOL Although school records show that the present Base Line School was built in 1852, the settlement of the area began in the early 1800's. Pupils walked from Simcoe Point and Pickering Village to a school on the Brock Road just north of Kingston Road. This building was also used by the congregation of the Disciples as their church. A frame school, traces of which have long since disappeared, stood on the Brock Road south of the present railway right-of-way on what is now the Sleep farm. It is possible that the coming of the railway in the early 1850's encouraged the trustees to locate their new brick school a little farther from the railway line, at the exact centre of the school section. This brick school was renovated in 1938 when the brick walls were entirely rebuilt and stuccoed, and the old Gothic windows replaced by the present square-topped ones. In 1953 a second class-room was added and new heating, lighting and water systems were installed. After the school had been established on the present site, additional parcels of land were added in 1858, 1873 and 1952 to bring the playground up to its present size. The first inspector or superintendent of schools for the township was Mr. Geo. Barclay, who reported in 1844 that Pickering had 15 school districts with 893 school pupils and that there were 1,703 children in the Township. In that year the government grant was £39.6.3 and the school tax realized £364.11.10. Early teachers were Mr. J. W. Palmer, who taught in 1846, Mr. J. D. O'Sullivan, 1849, and Mr. B. Bunting, who received £50 for his services in 1851-52. From that day to this there has been a succession of teachers who remained for shorter or longer periods. The present teachers, Mrs. T. Hartford and Mrs. M. Squires, have staffed the school now for three and seven years respectively. In earliest times the teacher was paid by his pupils and "boarded round" with district families. Blackboards and other equipment were absent and teacher and pupils sat before the roaring log fire in winter or did "sums" on a desk constructed by driving pegs between the logs and laying the plank across them. Schooling became "free" in 1871 at which time trustees were compelled to provide adequate accommodation and the first County School Inspector, Mr. McBrien, was appointed. The passage of a township By-law in 1954 to form a school area composed of present school sections which lie along the lakefront between Ajax and the Scarborough Town Line will see the disappearance of old S.S. No, 2, Pickering. Within its boundaries at Frenchman's Bay the ^first school in Ontario was conducted by two Sulpician Fathers for the Indians in the area, in 1669-1670. In its one hundred and two years of formal existence, S.S. 2 has provided continuous educational facilities for all the pupils in the section, both at our Base Line School and the "Bay" School built in 1950. Page 2 PROGRAMME MORNING 10:00 A.M. Sports AFTERNOON 2:00 P.M.- Official Opening Chairman Mr. McKay) Dedication of the Flag and Flag Raising Speaker: Mr. Gregory Clark, Introduced by Mr. W. Murkar Greetings Song . . . The School Children O, Canada 3:30 P.M.-Moving Pictures 5:00 P.M.—Lunch Games Renewing Old Acquaintances 8:00 P.M.- Variety Show 9:00 P.M. --Dancing 10:00 P.M.—Fireworks Community Singing 11:45 P.M.—Closing Page 3