The Life and Times of the One Room Schools in King Township, Ontario, Canada

King Township is primarily a rural Township situated north of Metropolitan Toronto. Early settlers who came to the area farmed the land and built grist and lumber mills, tanneries and blacksmith shops. Near these new businesses many small hamlets and villages sprung up, and with them, the need for amenities. From the early 1820s through to the 1950s, 21 one room school houses serviced these communities. These schools were the heart of the community and are a great source of local history.

Sites for the earliest schools where often donated by a local farmer, but eventually the locations were chosen to ensure that children had no more than 2 or 3 km to walk to school. Even so, it wasn’t so long ago that children often could not get to school when winter snow or the spring thaws made the roads impassable. At the fall harvest they might be required to stay home and help on the farm and education, temporarily, was second to family.

Ways of life change, and although King has remained a mostly rural township despite development creeping ever closer, other influences have seen the decline of these smaller hamlets and the local one room school houses have been closed. As time passed many of these buildings were neglected and eventually demolished while others, with their distinctive bell towers, can still be recognized as residences and businesses across the township.

By the 1950s when Highway 400, connecting Toronto to Ontario’s ‘cottage county’ and the north, was constructed and cut the Township in half, the days of the one room school house were numbered. The introduction of rural school bussing resulted in school closures as sites were amalgamated for efficiency and cost effectiveness.

It is important at this stage to document the rich history and the influence these schools played in the development of King Township. We are most grateful to the many residents who over the years have donated their photographs, documents and memoirs to the King Township Museum and the King Township Archives so that we can share their story.