Then and Now: Beacon Hill School

By Ted Ross

The Beacon Hill area of James Bay neighbourhood was developing in the early 1900s. By 1905 the streetcar line had arrived. Victoria newspapers advertised building lots near the park. In one instance, in 1907, the entire block surrounded by Government, Niagara, St. Andrews and Simcoe Streets, the former Caledonian Park, was sub-divided. Seventeen houses were erected by the next year, with more built in subsequent years. Similar development was taking place on neighbouring blocks.

The need for a school for the new locals' children was clear. Kingston Street primary school became overcrowded. A new school, Beacon Hill, opened in the autumn of 1914. Also a primary school, it operated under the jurisdiction of its parent school, South Park, with a teacher-in-charge at Beacon Hill.

A 1914 photograph, from the Victoria City Archives, shows 96 souls assembled. 90 of them would be students. They are on the field (in 2014 a line of trees) across Douglas Street. The school is in the background. A large dwelling, immediately south of the schoolhouse, has a long line of diapers on its clothes-line, a testament to the source of the school's population. Saplings grow in the school's front yard.

Young scholars toiled in the two-storey building in three classes. Grade One was on the upper floor. Grades Two and Three were on the main floor. Indoor play areas and a furnace were in the basement. And so it was for several decades.

Ray Logie reminisces in the Daily Colonist, October 15, 1978: "It was Beacon Hill School in the early 1940s - a social and educational millenium ago - when Mrs. Ford ruled grade three with an iron, rap-wielding hand and unyielding Victorian morality." In his, "Lament for Beacon Hill School," a full-page article of memories of his school days, he recalls, "...scratchy pen nibs held in strangely-shaped red wooden pen holders...bare hardwood floors, smooth and oily like well-worn leather...a communicable disease meant 20 days solitary and the VON nurse..."

The BC Archives photo from 1944 shows the schoolhouse of Mr. Logie's period. The only noticeable change in thirty years was the growth of the front-yard trees, now as tall as the school.

By 1972, there were too few pupils to continue operation of the school. Demolished houses had been replaced by adult-only apartment blocks. Primary school population dwindled to fifty-two for three classes. On June 24, 1972, Beacon Hill School closed, after fifty-eight years of enrolling pupils. The Victoria Times headline read, "Last Bell Will Ring For Beacon Hill Elementary - End of Era In Interests of Economy." For the next five years the building was used for children with special learning problems. The increasing value of the property and high maintenance costs led the school board to allow the property to revert to the city for disposal in 1977.

The Victorian,of May 4, 1977, reported, "Beacon Hill School will be offered for sale and development with retention and restoration of the brick exterior a major condition of sale." Newspaper headlines all that summer reflected community opposition to the proposed conversion of the former school to condominium apartments. Proposals for community use were made by James Bay groups, but were ultimately rejected by the City, in favour of private development.

Today, at one hundred years of age, Beacon Hill School is home to several suites. Four dormers, on the four faces of the roof, light the penthouse apartment, built into the attic space. Other than the dormers, the external appearance of the building is unchanged. Flower boxes now adorn the classic windows of the building. The trees grew to be giants, but have been recently removed, to allow light into the apartments. A tall sequoia remains in the front yard.

Beacon Hill School, one hundred years old, is a comfortable home for its residents today. For nearly sixty years it was a place of learning for youngsters mastering numbers, writing, reading and spelling. Whichever its role, the building stands handsome, with its sturdy brick structure and pleasing design.

Bibliography

1978 Camas Historical Group, "Camas Chronicles of James Bay, Victoria, British Columbia," 1978; Victoria Public Libray Local History Room, clippings files; Victoria City Archives, clippings files and photograph files, M07732, 1914; BC Archives, photograph files, h-06802, 1944.