About Campden Public School

CAMPDEN SCHOOL

1855 - 2000

On January 1, 1855, a 1/4 acre lot was purchased from Michael Funk by the school trustees of S.S. #6 for the sum of 6 pounds, 5 shillings. The trustees were John Hipple, William W. Moyer and Frederick Eckherdt. Registry records describe the parcel of lands as follows:

Being part of Lot Number 8 in the seventh concession of the said Township of Clinton is butted and bounded as follows. Commencing 9 chains and 12 links East of the NorthWest Angle of the said Lot Number 8 Running thence South 5 Rods then East 8 Rods then north 5 Rods then West 8 Rods to the place of beginning. (Court House, Registry Office, 59 Church Street, St. Catharines, Ontario)

On this site, the first school in Campden was built the following year. It has a rectangular-shaped, one-room, frame structure with windows along the sides and heated by a wood-burning stove. The building was sold in 1874 for $185.00 to the local undertaker who moved it to Ontario St. South, now known as Campden Road.

The schoolhouse constructed in 1874 in Campden, while architecturally simple, was large, well-built and relatively expensive at $1,883.28. Less than two years later, the trustees purchased another 1/4 acre of property from John & Elizabeth Rittenhouse for $25.00. In 1897, a further 1/2 acre was purchased for the sum of $45.00 giving the school a total lot size of 1 acre. In 1948 an additional 1/2 acre was added, and in 1958, approximately 4 1/4 acres were purchased. As we head into the 21st century, Campden School boasts a beautiful large, partially wooded lot of nearly six acres, which includes a creative playground, baseball diamond, soccer field and a cross-country course.

The new school, which still serves our junior and senior kindergarten classes was a simple rectangular design with entries for boys and girls. It was heated by wood, had a bell for ringing the start of the school day, and was illuminated by sunlight. A hand pump outside the school provided water, a woodshed provided fuel and the outhouse were located behind the school, out of sight. There were, however, several notable exceptions, foremost being Campden School's size and brick construction. By 1876, only 40% of the Provinces 5,042 rural schools were of brick or stone construction. The 1874 Campden School featured foot-thick brick walls, resting on a foundation of field stone which in turn, rested on bedrock. It was more than double the size of a typical rural school and far exceeded government building recommendations. There were 2 chimneys, external at first, one at each end of the school, both of which had double flues. The dome-shaped belfry, while not a rare feature, was huge, the dominant visual feature of the building.

The large one room school house served generations of Campden students largely unchanged until the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1908, a partition was built inside the school, separating the school population into junior and senior classes. In 1955, Campden School was able to double its capacity with the addition of 2 classrooms, two washrooms and a furnace and stove room. Costing $40,000, the modern exterior contrasted sharply with the old school. Ten years later, another addition was completed with the construction of 4 more classrooms, a supply room and a staff room. In 1995 our most recent addition of a gymnasium, a community room, main offices, staff room, washrooms, and change
room facilities was added.

Despite the modern addition, Campden Public School retains its original character. There are some ironies - the old school was built when there was no such thing as kindergarten and yet today the original structure houses the junior and senior kindergarten classes. It was an extremely large building it its time; today, even with the expansions, it is one of the smallest schools in the Lincoln County system. Campden Public School, however, is unique. It is a visual and concrete link between the present and a rich and enduring past.

Some of the first settlers in Canada were not settlers in the true sense of the word, but soldiers of the famous corps known as "Butler's Rangers". In return for military services, many of these soldiers were granted extensive holdings in Campden and the surrounding aea at the close of the eighteenth century.

Campden School property was originally granted by the crown to Lt. Thomas Butler in 1798. Lt. Butler did not keep the property long, selling it to A. Slin in 1801. This practice of soldiers selling off their land quite quickly was fairly common. Land could be purchased quite cheaply by settlers who immigrated from Pennsylvania, after the American revolutionary war. The names Albright, Kratz, High, Honsberger, Grobb, Gross, Houser, Wismer, Fry, Fretz and Nash were among these settlers. Because marriages tended to be contracted between persons of the same background, many family connections are easily traced in fairly straight lines from the pioneer to the present day.

The first home, a log cabin built around 1812, was constructed by Luther De Forris on the site of the present town hall. The first business establishment was Mr. Abraham Swartz's tailor shop. This shop changed hands several times, becoming a shoe shop and a weaving business. The second house became a cabinet shop, owned and run by Samual S. Moyer. A cigar factory was also started up at this time. In 1843, the Mennonite Church was erected about a 1/2 mile to the east of the village.

By mid-century, the village and surrounding community had grown enough to make a post office necessary. Until this time, the village was called Moyer's Corners, appropriately named since that family was large and had extensive land holdings in the area. When the post office was opened in 1862 by H.W. Moyer, the village officially became known as Campden, named after the son of an English Earl.

By 1878, Campden had nearly 150 inhabitants; it boasted its own doctor, two general stores, a shoe shop, several blacksmiths, a cabinet maker, a cigar factory, a funeral home and furniture establishment, a chopping mill, a pottery shop, an apple-pressing business, a tinsmith, two churches, the school and a hotel.

In 1905, Campden was incorporated as a policy village with Dr. J.S. Comfort, Jacob M. Moyer and Alvin Moyer elected as police trustees. Shortly thereafter, concrete sidewalks were laid throughout the village, at the cost of $1,000. raised through a special tax levy. Street lighting was installed, and large cisterns for firefighting protection were financed in the same manner.

Off the main thoroughfare and some distance from the railroad, Campden could not long compete with other growing commercial centres. Many of the older business establishments moved to a more lucrative location or simply closed shop as the 20th century progressed. When the Town of Lincoln was formed in 1970, Campden was one of the many villages incorporated.

Campden in the late 19th century was a thriving, nearly self-sufficient village boasting the conveniences of a contemporary community. A great many of its citizens could trace their ancestors to the early pioneers who were strongly pro-loyalist and religiously devout. This combination of successful private enterprise and strong moral conviction would have a profound effect on the educational development of Campden.