"Saddening is the fact that our industries have disappeared and our hamlets have become subservient to the towns and cities, but, there is a ray of hope that our villages, around which this history has been written, may survive through the efforts of those concerned in the new surveys, and we will become a healthy residential area."
Gordon R. Jackson wrote the preceding comment in the 1948 history of School Section #5. It was a statement that was to come true and was to have dramatic affects on Greensville School.
As we pick up the story of Greensville School in 1948, the school is beginning to have growing pains. Development in the Grand Vista area started to put pressure on the school’s facilities so that by 1951 plans were underway for the first of many alterations which would be made to the school in the next quarter century.
The School Board proposed in 1951 to add one additional classroom to the school in order to alleviate the overcrowding. The Home and School Association felt that this was really a stop gap measure and that this would be inadequate. Consequently, the group did their own survey of the area and they reported back to the Board. It was their belief that at least two new rooms would be required in order to keep up with the increasing number of children of school age. The Board consequently scrapped their original plan.
By July of 1951, the Board had decided to demolish the old school and build an entirely new building which would allow for future growth. These plans, however, went no-where as the Department of Education cut back the Board’s approved expenditures from $50,000 to $35,000. The reason for this cut was that the Department had believed that the money was being used for addition rather than for a new school. Thus, we were left with the old school.
The final plan for the addition called for the construction of three classrooms, an office, hallway and washrooms with flush toilets. The addition had been designed by Mr. Riddle. On May 3, 1952 the purchase of additional land was finalized in order to increase the size of the playing field. The Board purchased 1 1/2 acres from Mr. J. Tew and a strip 50 feet wide from Mr. L. Granville. The land at that time cost $500 per acre.
As a new well had to be dug, Mr. Swayze and Mr. Kievell were given the task of finding water through the ancient methods of witching. Mr. Kievell was able to predict the presence of water to within a depth of 60 feet. This was only out by 2 feet when the well was dug and water appeared at 62 feet.
The enrollment of the school reached 121 in the spring of 1952. This required that an additional teacher be hired and that the students be put on staggered classes until the new addition was completed. This occurred in the fall and the new addition was officially opened on September 12.
On February 25, 1953, a telephone was installed in the school as the result of an accident to one of the children.
The following is an advertisement for a teacher in 1955. It makes an interesting comparison with the advertisement of 1831.
WANTED
Qualified Protestant teacher for Gr. 3 & 4 in Greensville School & Gr. 3 & 4 at Bowman, both near Hamilton, Ont. by T.S.A. #2 Flam. Salary schedule in effect, duties to commence Sept. 6, 1955. Apply stating experience, qualifications, present inspector’s name and tele.
By September of 1956, Greensville School was again finding itself over-crowded. The temporary solution was to transfer some of the students to Bowman School with a recommendation that more classrooms be added to Greensville School.
Consequently, during April of 1957, tenders were taken for the addition of two classrooms and a staff room. Unfortunately, the addition wasn’t completed for September and the students once again began staggered classes until the additional rooms were completed. This section was officially opened in November, 1957.
Thus, by the end of the fifties Greensville School had grown from a two-room school to a seven-room school and it looked like the end was not in sight as more and more people decided to move away from Hamilton and its high taxes to the south end of West Flamboro Township.
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