1 photograph : b&w ; 11.2 x 15.8 cm mounted on cardboard 19.9 x 25.1 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of school children with their teacher, who is standing to the right of the picture. An annotation on the back and an earlier catalogue record from 1971 indicates that the donor identified the photograph as the first class at Armstrong Avenue School, 1913, with Miss L. Crake as the teache…
1 photograph : b&w ; 11.2 x 15.8 cm mounted on cardboard 19.9 x 25.1 cm
Scope and Content
Photograph of school children with their teacher, who is standing to the right of the picture. An annotation on the back and an earlier catalogue record from 1971 indicates that the donor identified the photograph as the first class at Armstrong Avenue School, 1913, with Miss L. Crake as the teacher. However, the first two-room Armstrong Avenue School was built in 1911 with Miss Lilly Mackenzie as the teacher. The present Armstrong school was built in 1955 with eleven classrooms. Later additions to the school occurred in 1962 (two classrooms), 1964 (four classrooms), 1967 (four classrooms), and 1969 (four classrooms). Annotation in blue ballpoint pen on back of photographs reads, "1st class of Armstrong Ave School. 1913 / Miss L Crake teacher."
History
The first Armstrong Avenue School was built in 1911 and it consisted of two rooms. The present school was built in 1955 with 11 classrooms. Additions: 1962 - two classrooms, 1964 - four classrooms, 1967 - four classrooms.
Photographic postcard of men sawing down a tree at the Armstrong Avenue School site at 8757 Armstrong Avenue. The accompanying description refers to it as the "bee tree."
Photographic postcard of men sawing down a tree at the Armstrong Avenue School site at 8757 Armstrong Avenue. The accompanying description refers to it as the "bee tree."
Survey plan of "Armstrong Street School Site / Burnaby Municipality" "Being a 2 acre portion of Lot 13 Group 1, & according to map 1722 which shows this as Lot E. Block 2 of subdivision of a portion, of Lot 13, Group 1, New Westminster District".
Survey plan of "Armstrong Street School Site / Burnaby Municipality" "Being a 2 acre portion of Lot 13 Group 1, & according to map 1722 which shows this as Lot E. Block 2 of subdivision of a portion, of Lot 13, Group 1, New Westminster District".
Oath on plan reads: "I, Geoffrey K. Burnett...and did personally superintend the survey represented..." "Completed on the 18th day of March 1915"; signed by Geoffrey K. Burnett and notarized by "K.A. Eastman", sworn "...19th day of April 1915"; "Burnett and McGugan., B.C. Land Surveyors. Etc.. New Westminster, B.C.."
The site for the Armstrong Avenue school was cleared in 1911. In 1955 the original structure was replaced by a new building and additions were constructed in 1962, 1964, 1967 and 1969. Armstrong Avenue was named after J.C. Armstrong, an early property owner of Burnaby who was involved in the effort to make Burnaby a municipality in 1892.
Joseph Pollard was born in Boston, Lancashire and moved to Preston, Lancashire where he apprenticed as a butcher and worked as an attendant at Rainhill Mental Hospital. In 1909 he immigrated to Canada; first to London Ontario, then to Brandon, Manitoba where he met his future wife, Agnes Colvin.
Agnes Jane Colvin grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland near Bushmills, county Antrim. She, her sister Mary and brother James emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1910. Agnes was hospitalized wtih scarlet fever. As soon as she was well enough, she moved to her cousin’s farm in Moosomin, Saskatchewan and began nursing at a mental hospital in Brandon.
Joseph and Agnes were married on September 13, 1912. After traveling to England for their honeymoon, they settled in Port Coquitlam, BC in 1913 where their first child, May Elizabeth was born. Shortly after, they bought their first home in East Burnaby at 332 17th Avenue where their second and third children, Joe and Sidney, were born.
The Pollards second home was at 1095 16th Avenue in the Edmonds district of Burnaby. Twins Peggy and Claire were born in this house.
In 1916, Joseph enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was sent overseas to England where he remained for the duration of the WWI. In May of 1919, he returned home and opened J. Pollard Meat Market in South Burnaby. He operated this business until 1936 when he and Agnes bought Lily Auto Court on Kingsway in Burnaby. They managed this business for about seven years, then sold the hotel and retired to Vancouver.
Joseph and Agnes's eldest child May graduated from Burnaby South High School in 1930 and the Provincial Normal School in Vancouver in 1931. She worked as a substitute teacher for four years before getting her first teaching assignment at Armstrong Avenue School in 1935 where she taught grades one to five. After two years, she was promoted to Nelson Avenue School where she taught grade one for two years. She married in April of 1939 and her two daughters, Diane and Marilyn, were born in 1948 and 1952 respectively.