Forgotten Schools of Weston

Photos curated by WHS archivist Martin Proctor.

The Weston Common School, aka the Pro Bono Publico School. Its name is due to the motto seen on the tablet above the entrance. This used to stand on Main Street North (Weston Road) near Coulter Avenue.

Here are some students outside Weston's first public school, the Pro Bono Publico School. This image is dated circa 1890.

This photo is also dated circa 1890 outside the Pro Bono Publico School. Garnet Rowntree (on the right with his arms behind him) being the only student identified in the photo.

The building was sold off after the construction of the King Street School in the 1890’s. The image was taken in the 1940’s. The building became part of Langstaff’s Pumpworks. Note the change in the windows on the right and the addition of a window where the tablet was.
Jim Coulter donated the picture to the WHS.

Hanging in a hallway in C.R. Marchant Public School, the tablet from the little Pro Bono Publico reminds people of one of the lost schools of Weston.

At one time this was Banks Private School (sometimes listed as Banks Finishing School). It was located on Main Street North (Weston Road) across from Church Street. Mr. Banks was a pharmacist who ran the school from his house.

Trinity College School lasted but a short time in Weston, (1862 – 1868) then it was relocated to Port Hope, Ontario. This image shows the school when it operated out of the rectory of St. Phillips.

Trinity College School used this house as one of their residences while in Weston. It was formerly owned by Roland Burr (William Tyrrell’s father-in-law) and is on the northwest corner of King Street and Rosemount Avenue. This view shows the house circa 1981.

This is a rare look inside the residence of Trinity College School. The school began in Weston through the efforts of Father William A., Johnson, pastor of St. Philip’s Anglican Church, and founder of St. John’s Anglican Church (then called the Chapel of Ease).
Photo part of the William Osler Photo Collection at McGill Library.

This is another interior image of the Trinity College School residence.
Photo from the William Osler Photo Collection at McGill Library.

This is another one of the area’s forgotten schools - Humberview Public School. It was virtually run over by the creation of the 401 highway. Very little information has been found about this school. The view of the photo is looking southwest.

This is Father Martin Michael Johnson standing near the vestry of St. John’s Roman Catholic Church. This doubled as St. John’s Separate School, both before and after the one room, and later four room schools were built. The door behind him is the entrance.

From Bourke’s Hotel, the Russell House, Ye Gray Dort Inn, the Shamrock Hotel and the Weston Hotel this building existed under many different names and owners. It was during the time it was the Russell House that St. Alban’s School used it (1909).

St. Alban’s School lasted for a short time at the former Tyrrell house at King Street and Rosemount Avenue. It prepared boys for University and Royal Military College.

Not a school per se but the grounds of the St. Maria Fidelis Convent (formerly the Wm. Tyrrell home, renamed during the FCJ Nuns tenure at the site) saw some use for school picnics in the 1970’s. It has been said that a tunnel used to link the Tyrrell estate with the former Rev. Hughes-Jones home but in fact it was an above the ground corridor, as seen in this picture. Replaced brick on the Hughes-Jones house show where it was attached.