Description of Historic Place

The Little Red Schoolhouse, formerly Alaska School No. 179, is a small one-room, wood shingle clad, single gable structure with an entrance porch. It is part of the Canadian Potato Museum complex located in O'Leary, Prince Edward Island.

Heritage Value

The Little Red Schoolhouse is valued as a typical one-room schoolhouse once commonly found in most Prince Edward Island communities, for its associations with the history of the community of Alaska, and its role in interpreting the province's educational history as part of the Canadian Potato Museum complex.

The Alaska School No. 179 was built in 1902 to serve the rural Prince County community of Alaska, located about 7 miles south of O'Leary, close to Brae Harbour. According to annual School Visitor Reports the school had 38 teachers during its 70 years of operation. The last teacher to serve in Alaska was eminent West Prince folklorist and historian John Cousins, his first teaching position. The school was the heart of the community where residents gathered to take in many Christmas and other concerts, organizational meetings including the inaugural meeting of the Alaska Women's Institute - the 300th branch - in 1951, and social functions along with providing instruction for students Grades 1 through 10.

With school consolidation in the province in the 1970s, the Alaska school closed in 1972 and was declared surplus. Dr. George Dewar, O'Leary's physician, and Member of the Legislative Assembly, was instrumental in the development of the Potato Museum and Centennial Park and was led the relocation of the schoolhouse to O'Leary in 1976 to ensure its preservation.

While many schools have been lost over the years, or converted to homes or seasonal cottages, the former Alaska School No. 179 has found a new life as the Little Red Schoolhouse open to the public with artifacts and displays offering a glimpse to a typical rural educational facility many of our families attended years ago.

The Little Red School House is a continuing reminder of the simple structures that played an integral part in the education and community spirit in rural Prince Edward Island and continues to be an important, tangible reminder of the province's educational history.

Source: Heritage Places files, Dept. of Economic Growth, Tourism & Culture, Charlottetown, PE.
File #: 4310-20/05.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the schoolhouse is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- The overall massing of the schoolhouse
- The wood shingle cladding
- The slope and pitch of the wood-shingled roof
- The porch entrance
- The placement and size of the windows, with exterior wood shutters on the southern elevation
- The "Alaska School No. 179" sign in the front gable peak
- the setting of the school house within O'Leary Centennial Park, as part of the Canadian Potato Museum