The Liverpool Academy was built in the late 1890s to replace the previous academy which was destroyed by fire in 1898. The school educated generations of families in the 98 years that it stood at the top of the hill looking down Gorham Street. Many of us Liverpool kids remember starting school there and I certainly remember it. I went to school there starting in September 1970, Mrs Vida Manthorne was grade primary teacher. She had taught for many years and by the time she was my teacher she was nearing retirement. My classmates were Philip Leefe, Sean Burke, Joanne Strum, Blair Raddall, Ann Whynot, Mary Beth Lantz, just to name a few. She was such a good teacher, with lots of patience for us little kids.I remember Mrs. Manthorne got us to make an octopus by filling the legs of 8 nylons with newspaper. At the end of the school year she put all of our names in a hat and picked out the winner who would get to take our octopus home. I recall Philip Leefe won. (Funny the things you remember). I remember the little fountains for us kids to drink from and the wooden wainscotting and walls and creaky stairs too. The school was old looking, though as kids we didnt think of that. My grade one teacher was Elizabeth Wessell now Elizabeth Burns and mid way through the school year we moved and I attended Gorham School on Payzant Street for the remainder of that school year. Many years after my days at the Academy, I ran into my grade primary teacher Mrs. Manthorne at Tim Hortons in Liverpool. As we talked I told her she taught me way back when. She thought for a minute and remembered my name and guessed 1969 as the year she had taught me, she was off by 1 year. Of all the students she taught over her years and how much I had changed in 20 years she still remembered. I could never figure out how teachers could remember that stuff. I was impressed.
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| My grade primary teacher Mrs. Vida Manthorne |
I got permission to go inside the Academy just before demolition in 1996. I took lots of interior and exterior photos and videoed too. Recently I watched the video and today I'm so pleased I thought to do that. The building has been gone for 15 years and the property used as part of the Rossignol Cultural Center next door in the old Jr. High School. Though the Academy was old and in need of lots of work, I've always felt that it was sad to demolish it. Seems it tends to happen to our older buildings far too often in Liverpool.
The Liverpool Academy was built in the late 1890s to replace the previous academy which was destroyed by fire in 1898. The school educated generations of families in the 98 years that it stood at the top of the hill looking down Gorham Street. Many of us Liverpool kids remember starting school there and I certainly remember it. I went to school there starting in September 1970, Mrs Vida Manthorne was grade primary teacher. She had taught for many years and by the time she was my teacher she was nearing retirement. My classmates were Philip Leefe, Sean Burke, Joanne Strum, Blair Raddall, Ann Whynot, Mary Beth Lantz, just to name a few. She was such a good teacher, with lots of patience for us little kids.I remember Mrs. Manthorne got us to make an octopus by filling the legs of 8 nylons with newspaper. At the end of the school year she put all of our names in a hat and picked out the winner who would get to take our octopus home. I recall Philip Leefe won. (Funny the things you remember). I remember the little fountains for us kids to drink from and the wooden wainscotting and walls and creaky stairs too. The school was old looking, though as kids we didnt think of that. My grade one teacher was Elizabeth Wessell now Elizabeth Burns and mid way through the school year we moved and I attended Gorham School on Payzant Street for the remainder of that school year. Many years after my days at the Academy, I ran into my grade primary teacher Mrs. Manthorne at Tim Hortons in Liverpool. As we talked I told her she taught me way back when. She thought for a minute and remembered my name and guessed 1969 as the year she had taught me, she was off by 1 year. Of all the students she taught over her years and how much I had changed in 20 years she still remembered. I could never figure out how teachers could remember that stuff. I was impressed.
Boys Tim you're on top of things today. I love your blogs.
ReplyDeleteVida Manthorne was a really fine woman.
A.P.
I remember when I started at the Academy in grade 4...I was excited because Cathy deRome had been my teacher in grade 3, and she made the move with her class from the Gorham school and was also my teacher for grade 4. The Stairway was soooo impressive...I loved it....but my most vivid memory was the BASEMENT...you had to go all the way down there to use the washroom, and it was CREEPY!!! Loved that old school. When I finished there, the teaching staff was Mrs Lundrigan, Mrs Burns, Mrs Fisher, Mrs Harding, Mrs deRome, Mrs MacIsaac, Mrs Cameron and Mrs Miller. And I loved the janitor Mr. Moody...he was so awesome!
ReplyDeleteI thought we had to go to the basement to use the washroom, Heather. I think there were coat hooks on the walls outside the classrooms to hang your coat on too.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of you posting that video Tim??
ReplyDeleteyes, there were coat hooks outside the classrooms. Mrs Cameron's grade 5 room upstairs and the primary room downstairs had like a cloak room outside their rooms. There was also the back stairwell too. The entrance to the basement was under the main stairs.
ReplyDeleteI think that when I went to the Academy there were only grades primary to four in the building. Mrs. Manthorne, Mrs. Crosby, Mrs. Warner, Mrs.Rice and Mrs. Dagley were the teachers at that time. But I also recall Mrs. Lundrigan teaching there too, perhaps before I left the school she came there to teach as a replacement for one of them.
ReplyDeleteI wish people would say which years they attended the schools so we could get some idea of how many were taught by the same teachers. I attended this school for big grade 1, grades 2,3 and 4. 1955 to 1959. Mrs. Lundrigan, then Miss Surette was my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs Cameron, then Miss Neiforth grade four. They were young teachers then just out of Teacher's College. In grade four someone wrote Dennis the Menace on one of the school walls...misspelled. Mrs Cameron asked everyone to write Dennis the Menace on a piece of paper. We thought it was fun. Then she looked at each paper until she found the same misspelling, told the guilty child to wait for her in the hall, then got her strap, the black strap out of her drawer. She told us to be quiet and stay in our seats and then closed the door behind her. You could hear a pin drop in the room we were so scared. And the child in the hall screamed in fear and pain. Both hands, three times each.
ReplyDeleteThe Liverpool Academy was a beautiful building and I am also sorry that it wasn't preserved. It is too easy to frame everything in terms of taxes, and who will pay. Too much culture and heritage are lost this way. I can still smell the wood and feel that wonderful banister under my hand.
ReplyDeleteYou have a very good memory Tim. We had Mrs. Manthorne the last year that she taught and she was a wonderful lady. It was also the year that they started building the arena next to the school. You are right, I did win the octopus and I had to have several classmates help me carry it home. I agree with Heather , the basement was creepy and you didn't waste any time in getting back to the classroom when using the washroom.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the pictures and video on your blog.
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Does anyone else remember the rifle range in the attic. Guess that would never happen today. The sheer weight of the sand bags its a wonderful the building could stand it.
ReplyDeleteAs army cadets thats where we did our rifle practice and testing.
As small children we spent more time playing on the big rocks than the swings.