New Brunswick’s Macdonald Consolidated School

This is the remarkable story of a new adventure in education in New Brunswick. In 1904 Kingston’s Macdonald Consolidated School (MCS) brought revolutionary changes to rural education in the community and a new standard of education to the province.

For the first time there was public education in a rural community that offered primary to advanced courses (grades 1 thru 11 inclusive). The MCS curriculum was seen as a ground breaking change. It would concentrate on the practical needs of rural youth. It would do so in a fine building with the best of teachers and tools. The designers believed that this new approach to rural education would help reverse the ongoing decline in Canada’s rural population.

The concept of consolidating one-room schoolhouses into larger central schools was controversial. People feared the costs involved and the loss of their local school.

This is the story of the school’s first years. We’ll also tell you something of MCS today.

Aerial view of 1904 Kingston’s MCS, Trinity Church and the surrounding village.