The Schoolhouse # 7

Once indoor, we pass through a small vestibule lined with hooks for schoolchildren and enter the spacious inner hall, which has ten-feet high ceilings. The blackboards were on the far wall: sitting on their school desks, the schoolchildren therefore had their backs to the street.

This map shows the localisation of the rural schoolhouse on the territory.

Here we are in front of a fine example of a schoolhouse. It has gone though the decades without undergoing major transformations since its construction in 1931.  The school was built according to plans and specifications imposed in the 20th century by the Department of Public Instruction.

The parents of the current owners of the nearby farm buildings gave up part of their land for the construction of the school. This is located in the center of the country road to allow children to walk there. It was surrounded by a small fenced schoolyard, now gone. 

On the front façade, the main door is off-centre towards the west side. On the east facade, a large window let in the morning sun, while on the west facade, we see the hatch to bring in firewood. Inside, a staircase provides access to the attic designed to serve as an apartment for the teacher. However, it was never used for this purpose.

Just below, take a look at the foundation which has an opening: it was through this that we passed to access and empty the tank of the toilets located inside the building. Some brave students were rewarded with some bonus points on their report cards for volunteering for this task!

This schoolhouse is not the oldest in the area, but its appearance has not been changed. 

There are up to 10 schools that have been in operation on the territory, including the convent in the center of the village. The school boards at the time divided the territory into numbered boroughs and gave the same number to the school located there. 

The schoolhouses in Saint-François-du-Lac are numbered from 1 to 8 but, curiously, there is no school with the number 6. Why? The mystery remains…

CENTRE D’ARCHIVES RÉGIONALES SÉMINAIRE DE NICOLET. Fonds école no3 et école no 4, Saint-François-du-Lac, 1891-1937, F-447. 

DUFOUR, Andrée et Micheline Dumont. Brève histoire des institutrices au Québec de la Nouvelle-France à nos jours, Montréal, Boréal, 2004, 219 p.

Interview avec Louise Baron

Telephone interview with Marie-Claire Gamelin (Desmarais)

GAUDREAU, Valérie. «Une classe à part», Continuité, automne 2022, no 174, p :36-37.

HUDON-BEAUDET, Florence. Saint-François-du-Lac 1673-1998, Saint-François-du-Lac, 1999, 703 p.

TESSIER, Robert. L’époque des écoles de rang 1824-1964. Regards sur Bellechasse, Québec, Les éditions GID, 2017, 525 p.

Photo Credits: 

The school: HUDON-BEAUDET, Florence. Saint-François-du-Lac 1673-1998, Saint-François-du-Lac, 1999, page 639.

The rural schoolhouse on the territory: Courtesy of Melanie Michaud, 2023