School Days at Queen's Avenue School, [detailed anecdotes about children's clothing] -- 1920s -- Anne Yuill

Edmonton had names for the streets in its early days. Sometimes streets ran parallel to Jasper Avenue and sometimes the opposite way. I spent a lot of time walking McDougall Avenue, (100th Street) which stretched from McDougall Hill North to Queens Avenue (now known as 104 Avenue). In 1903, the second brick school to be built in Edmonton was built at that location and was known as Queen’s Avenue School. The first brick school was known as College Avenue School and I assume was built on College Avenue, which ran along the top of the hill.


Queen’s Avenue was rather a distinctive looking building due to the belfry type of structure, similar to that on a church, which sat atop the second floor and main door opening. Our playground, including a baseball diamond and basketball court was situated across the street, which also housed quite a few garter snakes. The last item provided the boys with great sport with which to chase the girls.


Standing upright on one side of the school was a large black metal cylinder known as the fire escape. Grades 1 to 3 were located on the main floor, but the other grades were taught on the second and third floors, enabling you to have a practice fire drill using the fire escape. I was so excited when I got up to grade 4, but alas for me we moved to the new Queen’s Avenue School before a drill was held.


In preparation to the building of the new school in 1925, construction was started on the underpass at 104 Avenue and 101 Street to accommodate the Canadian National Railways tracks crossing and their new station. The old school was demolished and the new Queen’s Avenue school was opened in the spring of 1926 between 105 and 106 Avenues and 100 Street and 99 Street.


In the spring, what a muddy mess it was at the side of the old school preparatory to moving; inviting though for kids to try out. I recall quite vividly being stuck in the middle of a sea of mud and clay unable to move. A farmer with laced up white rubber boots rescued me, literally pulling me out of my shoes and rubbers, which he kindly retrieved after getting me back on dry land. I think I was more careful after that of muddy sections but I delighted in being an unpaid employee of the City Sewer Department, removing the debris that had collected on top of the drains so that the water could run more freely and I could sail my boats.


Teachers in those days were very strict. Classrooms were very quiet except when the teacher spoke or asked a student a question. One could even get the strap for looking out the window while sharpening a pencil, which I unfortunately found out the hard way. School hours were from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon with one and a half hours for lunch, returning from 1:30 to 4:00pm. Except for on very cold winter days, we went home for lunch. Of course we were dressed for the weather. However in those days girls did not wear slacks. We wore long underwear, tops and bottoms, with ribbed stockings on our legs. There was an article of clothing called a waist with garters attached to hold up the stockings. The waists were often made from recycled cotton sacks that flour came in. Sugar sacks made great Halloween bags! Overtop of these two layers one would have a warm wool sweater and skirt, and of course a heavy wool coat. Sometimes we had laced leather boots which came halfway up our legs. Several years later we had overshoes which were put on top of your shoes and fastened with metal clasps. One day in grade 8 Dorothy Dawes wore a pair of what would be the forerunner of today’s jeans. They were called Whoopee Pants and were made wide from the calf down with a red triangle piece of fabric. She was promptly sent home and told to come back dressed properly in a dress or skirt.


The boys wore long black ribbed stockings over their long underwear with pants that were fastened at the knee very much like golfers’ plus fours, but much narrower. Most often they wore these when they were dressed up, opting for long pants and sweaters most school days. Boys in the higher grades had to take some military training and had cadet uniforms to wear for training. The girls were required to wear middies (blouses) and skirts at certain times and were taught marching drills.


Participation in the school cadet program was compulsory for all boys over twelve years of age. The cadet program had grown out of fear of the American Civil War spreading into Canada in the 1860’sand Canadian military officials felt they should be preparing young Canadian men to defend Canada and its British traditions. The movement spread to Western Canada and Calgary formed the first School Cadet Corps in 1895. Three cadet companies were organized in 1907 in Edmonton at Queen’s Avenue, McKay Avenue, and College Avenue schools.


At the end of grade 8, one could start working or further your education by taking high school (grades 9 to 12). Another option was to attend McDougall Commercial school where one took two years of several high school subjects such as English and literature plus secretarial subjects. An option the boys had was to attend Technical school. When I finished grade 12 in 1935 I chose to take the one year secretarial course at McDougall Commercial. There was a polio epidemic that fall and classes could not begin until October. There were so many students enrolled that year that classes had to be double shifted. The shifts were 8:00 am to 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.


At this time we were in the midst of the depression years. Jobs were very hard to come by and employers required experience. I was lucky to have a CGIT leader who worked for F.D. Matthews Insurance. Mr. Matthews allowed her to bring in girls to train in the afternoon for several months so that we could say we were experienced. One of my friends who graduated a year ahead of me did not get a permanent job until one year after me. How fortunate I was to live in the CPR building where there were offices.