Description of Historic Place

The Public School is a Municipal Heritage Property situated on a .9-ha public reserve at the north end of Centre Street in the Village of Fox Valley. The property features a two-room, wood-frame schoolhouse built in 1928. The parcel also contains campsites and washroom stalls that are non-contributing resources.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Public School lies in its association with the establishment and development of educational facilities in the Village of Fox Valley. Fox Valley School District No. 2879 was organized in 1913, and its first school, a one-room country schoolhouse, was built a year later. The two-room Public School, built in 1928, was the first school constructed in the village. A second, identical two-room school was erected on the same grounds in 1944 to accommodate increasing enrolments in the growing community. By the 1950s, the district’s rural schools were closing and their remaining students were being bussed to the village. In response to this influx, additions were made to the newer of the “twin schools,” and a basement classroom was opened in the original school. After two new, larger schools were built in the 1960s, the 1944 school continued to be used for classroom space until it was closed and demolished in the 1980s. The original 1928 school was used for wood-working instruction until its closure in 1983.

Heritage value also resides in the Public School’s landmark status as one of the village’s oldest surviving buildings. Built in the same year as the village’s incorporation and still sitting on its original location, the Public School is cherished as a prominent symbol of the community’s heritage. Having served the village’s educational needs for nearly 60 years, many residents also feel a close personal connection to the school.

Source:

Village of Fox Valley Bylaw # 1-86.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the Public School resides in the following character-defining elements:
-elements that are typical of early-twentieth century prairie schoolhouses, including its simple rectangular form with hip roof; the gable-roofed porch with central entranceway, portico and double wood doors; the floor plan consisting of a short flight of stairs leading to a vestibule that opens to the cloakroom, office and classroom areas; the window pattern; the multi-pane, double-hung windows in their original wood casings; the wood flooring and mouldings; and the painted plaster walls and ceiling;
-fixtures that reflect the building’s use as a school, including chalkboards, the original nameplate above the entrance, and the flagpole on the peak of the porch roof;
-elements that reflect the schoolhouse’s status as one of the village’s oldest buildings, including period construction materials such as the clapboard siding, window trim and shake shingles, and the building’s location on its original site at the north end of Centre Street.