McCurdy's School

Built circa 1830's the school was officially called S.S. #8 Trafalgar, also known as McCurdy’s Corners School. Local residents John Mason, Hugh Mason, John Bussell, Isaac Askin, Robert McCurdy, David Cordingley, Bartholomew O’Connor, Adam Anderson, Henry Anderson, and Patrick McCarten all gathered together to build the first school at McCurdy’s Corners in the early 19th century. It was constructed of unhewn logs and mud brought over from Nunan’s Corners (also known as the Catholic Swamp). When the school closed there was a grand ceremony, with the whole community gathering for a picnic in the woods.

The first teacher at the McCurdy’s Corners school was Jacob Scott, often assisted by his wife. The first class attendance showed sixty pupils enrolled. During the second week of classes at the new school, there was a bear attack, forcing the new teacher up into a tree until Isaac Scott arrived on the scene along with his axe. This school served also as the church for the community until 1832, when a new frame church was built. The last teacher in the log school was Miss Rogers.

There were many teachers over the years at the school, one such teacher was Gladys McCleary Speers. She was teaching at the McCurdy’s Corners school while her younger sister, Miss Violet McCleary, was in attendance. Violet would later follow in her sister’s footsteps and take over as the teacher of the McCurdy’s Corners school. An early class photograph shows that classes were smaller and more intimate in the past, with only nine students enrolled: Byron, Jean and Joyce Bedell, J.D. Cordingley, Joan May, Bill, Jim and Mary Peterson, and Irvine Thompson. Their teacher at the time of the photograph was Miss Jean McNabb. On July 5, 1958 the school had a reunion for past students, and many memories and photos were shared on that day. The brick school was later converted to a community hall until, in 1969, it was purchased by Gerald Jensen who converted the building into a multi-storey home. Unfortunately the former schoolhouse is no longer standing, having burned down in November of 2007. Later demolished in 2008.