One of the first tasks of Burnaby's Municipal Government upon its incorporation was to lobby for a public school in Burnaby. By 1893, land on Douglas Road near Edmonds was donated and the new school was built in 1893. The one-room school opened on January 22, 1894 with 29 students under the charge of teacher, Ethel LePage. The School has been known as the Burnaby School (until1896), and then East Burnaby School from 1896 to 1907 and finally, Edmonds Street School.
Item consists of a motion picture film entitled 'Investment in Youth'. The film was created between October 1945 and March 15, 1946 and had its first public screening in April of 1946 at the North Burnaby High School with The Deputy Minister of Education of British Columbia, Dr. F.T. Fairey in atte…
Item consists of a motion picture film entitled 'Investment in Youth'. The film was created between October 1945 and March 15, 1946 and had its first public screening in April of 1946 at the North Burnaby High School with The Deputy Minister of Education of British Columbia, Dr. F.T. Fairey in attendance. It was produced for the Burnaby School Board as one method of demonstrating the importance of education as well as pointing out the need for school improvements. The depression of the 1930s left Burnaby in a difficult position with limited school construction and during World War II there were little resources for maintenance.
Ken West was the producer and amateur cinematographer while Vancouver teacher, Roth Gordon assisted with the cinematography as well as providing technical assistance. The script was written by Norman D. MacDonald, who was the principal of Burnaby South High School while Inspector of Burnaby Schools, Cliff G. Brown, provided the overall supervision and idea for the production. Norm Henderson worked as a student assistant during the filming and assisted with much of the sound work. The speed of the film was ASA 2 ( artifical lighting) to 4 (natural lighting). As a result many of the sets had to have outside lighting. A 16 mm Bolex camera was used to film the entire production with sound being added later.
History
Norm Henderson came from Saskatchewan to Burnaby with his parents in December of 1940 to visit his grandmothers. Norm and his parents stayed on and bought the Old Orchard Auto Park on the corner of Kingsway and Willingdon Avenue, which they ran until 1944. Norm attended Burnaby South High School from 1941 to 1947, during which time he was involved in the production of the Burnaby School Board film; “Investment in Youth." In 1945 Norm got a part time job at Woodward’s Department Store in Vancouver where he worked until he went into teacher training at Vancouver Normal School in the early nineteen-fifties.
Kathleen MacFarlane (later Henderson) was born in 1929 and grew up in Vancouver. Kathleen also went through teacher training at Vancouver Normal School. Norm Henderson and Kathleen MacFarlane were married in 1953 and moved to a small suite located at Patterson Avenue and Kingsway in Burnaby. Norm taught at Gilmore Avenue School and Kathleen taught at Nelson Avenue Elementary School. Norm was a member of West Burnaby United Church from 1941 until he and Kathleen moved to Richmond in 1959.
This memorial comprises a cenotaph and three tennis courts: the former a monument of British Columbia granite inscribed with the names of fifty-one students of Burnaby South High School who lost their lives in the Second World War; and the latter a living memorial to these former students.
This memorial comprises a cenotaph and three tennis courts: the former a monument of British Columbia granite inscribed with the names of fifty-one students of Burnaby South High School who lost their lives in the Second World War; and the latter a living memorial to these former students.
Heritage Value
This memorial is important for its spiritual, symbolic, and cultural associations for the former students of Burnaby South High School, and for all youth in the community. The cenotaph is of personal significance to the families of those who lost their lives.
The unusual combination of cenotaph and living memorial - the tennis courts - represents a rare statement of a community's commitment to not allow the sacrifice of its youth to be forgotten by providing an active facility which draw people to the place on a regular basis rather than just on occasions of remembrance. As such it is an important symbol of a humanitarian ethic.
In combination with the Kingsway East School, now rehabilitated as the Alan Emmott Centre, this memorial represents a valuable haven of green-space and recreation in the high-density urban development that now surrounds it.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Burnaby South High School Cenotaph & Memorial Tennis Courts include the:
- location of the cenotaph adjacent to the living memorial
- spatial association of this memorial and the remaining school building
- physical fabric of both the granite monument and the tennis courts
P.I.D. No. 016-367-154
Legal Description: Lot 1, District Lot 96, Group 1 New Westminster District, Plan 86581
Boundaries
Burnaby South High School Cenotaph & Memorial Tennis Courts is comprised of a single municipally-owned property located at 6650 Southoaks Crescent, Burnaby.
Area
6,070.00
Contributing Resource
Building
Landscape Feature
Structure
Ownership
Public (local)
Documentation
Heritage Site Files: PC77000 20. City of Burnaby Planning and Building Department, 4949 Canada Way, Burnaby, B.C., V5G 1M2
The Seaforth Schoolhouse is a one-storey wood-frame rectangular plan building with a projecting entry porch, located in the Burnaby Village Museum.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Seaforth Schoolhouse lies in its representation of a one-room school once located in one of the city’s rural districts. The school was constructed due to the demand of increasing population after the First World War, in what was then known as the Lozells District, so isolated at the time that parents were concerned about the danger to their children from wild bears and cougars that roamed the area. The school was named after its sponsor, the Seaforth Chapter of the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire. Bowman and Cullerne, the architects for the Burnaby School Board, designed the one room schoolhouse. It was constructed by local contractor, Alphonse J. Toebaert, following the standards of British Columbia public school architecture, which specified the plan and orientation of the building. It indicates the values and the design control of school boards of the time, and the central role of the provincial government in setting educational standards.
The heritage value of this school also lies in its interpretive value within the Burnaby Village Museum. The site is an important cultural feature for the interpretation of Burnaby’s heritage to the public, illustrating the changes in the local school system over time. The school was moved to Burnaby Village Museum in 1983, and was opened to the public after extensive restoration in 1987. Both the interior and exterior have been restored and interpreted to the date of original construction. The North Vancouver School Board donated most of the early desks, and the remainder of the interior artifacts are from the museum’s own collection.
Defining Elements
Key elements that define the heritage character of the Seaforth Schoolhouse include its:
- rectangular plan
- hipped roof with cedar shingle cladding
- hipped-roof entry porch
- typical school fenestration of the era, with a bank of double-hung 6-over-6 wooden-sash windows on one facade
- cedar shingle cladding
- original and authentic interior elements such as interior mouldings, blackboards and desks
Photograph of the First Division class for 1907 at West Burnaby School (later renamed Kingsway West School). There are two rows of students standing and one row of seated students. there is a male teacher standing on the left side of the group just beside a bicycle that is leaning against the build…
Handwritten in the photograph is "1st Div 1907 / West Burnaby School". The reverse side of the photograph is printed in a postcard format.
Scope and Content
Photograph of the First Division class for 1907 at West Burnaby School (later renamed Kingsway West School). There are two rows of students standing and one row of seated students. there is a male teacher standing on the left side of the group just beside a bicycle that is leaning against the building.
Application for Purchase of Lots 1 and 2 of SD "C", Block 17/18, DL 34, Map 1355 and Lots 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13, Block "G", DL 96, Map 756 - Burnaby School Board
Application of the Burnaby School Board for Approval of Lots 13, 14, 15, Blocks 1/2, DL 80 as a Site for an Administrative Centre for the Board (Kincaid Street and Royal Oak Avenue)
Application of the Burnaby School Board for Reservation of the Following Lands for School Purposes - DL 129, Lots 2 to 16; Lots 30, 31 and 32; and Lots 2 to 8 inclusive
Appointment of Arthur G. Moore as Returning Officer for the Purposeof Taking the Vote re Municipality of the Burnaby School Loan Bylaw 1927 and the Burnaby Road Bylaw 1927