McKay Avenue School is a former school and

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta, Canada. The site is a

Provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

and Municipal Historic Resource, and home to the Edmonton Public School Board's archives and museum.

History

The original one-room school house was constructed in 1881 on land donated by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

, using funds raised by

Matthew McCauley Matthew McCauley may refer to: * Matthew McCauley (politician) (1850–1930), Canadian politician * Matthew McCauley (producer) Matthew McCauley (born 1954) is a Canadian composerMotion'. 1973. p. 206. and record producer based in Los Angeles ...

, Malcolm Groat and William Rowland. The smooth-finished wooden building featured a porch, double doors, eight large windows and ceilings. The growing population of Edmonton required the construction of a larger school house. Architect Henry Denny Johnson was contracted to design the three-storey, eight-room school on the site of the original 1881 school house. Johnson utilized the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revival style incorporates 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque ...

architectural style. In 1904 R. J. Mason received the contract to build the school, and construction began later in the year with

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Lord Minto Earl of Minto, in the County of Roxburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1813 for Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Baron Minto. The current earl is Gilbert Timothy George Lariston Elliot-Murray-Kynynm ...

laying the

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

, and construction completed and opened on 1 September 1905, the same day the province of Alberta entered

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

. Construction did not start on the

Alberta Legislature Building The Alberta Legislature Building is located in Edmonton and is the meeting place of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and the Executive Council of Alberta. It is often shortened to "the Ledge". The Alberta Legislature Building is located at 10 ...

until 1907, and was not completed until 1913, so the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...

used the McKay Avenue School for the first two sessions of the First Legislative Assembly of Alberta in 1906 and 1907. Important bills passed in those sessions include confirming Edmonton as the provincial capital, the founding of the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

, establishment of provincial courts, and the provision of charters for several railway companies. The school was named after Dr. William MacKay, a physician for the Hudson's Bay Company, although the building retains the misspelled ''McKay'' name. With dwindling enrollment in the downtown Edmonton area, totaling 59 in its final year, the McKay Avenue School was closed on June 30, 1983.

Edmonton Public Schools Archives and Museum

The Edmonton Public Schools Archives and Museum is in the McKay Avenue School. The organization is a public research facility housing records and artifacts related to

Edmonton Public Schools Edmonton Public Schools (legally Edmonton School Division) is the largest public school division in Edmonton, the second largest in Alberta, and the sixth largest in Canada. The division offers a variety of alternative and special needs programs, ...

. It also offers curriculum-based, hands-on education programs for students and a museum highlighting the history of Edmonton Public Schools and Alberta's early political history. The museum features a 1950s-period schoolroom and the restored 1906 legislative assembly room. Between 2019 and 2020, the museum was the site of a traveling exhibition from the

Anne Frank House The Anne Frank House ( nl, Anne Frank Huis) is a writer's house and biographical museum dedicated to Jewish wartime diarist Anne Frank. The building is located on a canal called the Prinsengracht, close to the Westerkerk, in central Amsterdam ...

. Following flooding in February 2013, the McKay School was found have significant structural damage requiring $2.4-million in restoration. A fund raising campaign began with saw the Edmonton Public School Board, City of Edmonton, Government of Alberta, Government of Canada and private donors raise the necessary funds to repair the building by 2016. The renovated building reopened to the public in October 2018. The museum also includes the original 1880s schoolhouse adjacent to the McKay Avenue School, which the McKay Avenue School replaced in 1905. The schoolhouse is used for museum education programs.

References

External links

Edmonton Public Schools Archives and Museum
* {{Edmonton landmarks Buildings and structures in Edmonton Education in Edmonton Museums in Edmonton Municipal Historic Resources of Edmonton Provincial Historic Resources in Edmonton