Fred Payton
Prince Albert Historical Society
Larry from up 2nd Avenue stopped by the other day. Although he never went to P.A.C.I., he has happy memories of riding his bike around the school grounds when he was a lot younger than he is now, and of sitting in the bleachers on autumn Saturday afternoons, watching the high school football games which were, at that time, announced by yours truly from a window (now bricked in) on the back of the auditorium stage. After reminiscing about these things, he pointed out that I had never written a column about “the old school on the hill”.
For the most part, prior to 1888, secondary education in Prince Albert was provided by the churches, starting with the Presbyterians in 1866, the Anglicans in 1878, and the Roman Catholic sisters in the school established in the house Lawrence Clarke sold to them. Records from 1888 indicate that the Public School Board was responsible for the High School branch of the “Union” School, and the trustees of Nisbet Academy invited the Public Board to use the Academy for high school classrooms.
Unfortunately, the Academy burned down on January 1st, 1890, and this began a series of moves for the high school classes beginning in the Club House (known as the Royal Hotel by the autumn of that year when Maud Montgomery began classes), to the Hughes building (rented to the School Board by the Masonic Lodge for $6.00 a month), to Central School (which quickly became overcrowded), and finally to the former Presbyterian church building on the corner of Avenue A and 11th Street West.
In the Spring of 1907, a public meeting was held to discuss the future of secondary education. This resulted in the election of the first High School Board in Prince Albert. Although D.W. Adam became the first chairman of the Board, with Sheriff Graham Neilson, Judge T.G. McGuire, The Reverend C.G. Young, and A.H. Woodman as members, it was really Sheriff Neilson who was the impetus behind the construction of P.A.C.I., and on October 14th, 1907, the Board took the necessary steps to raise $95,000 to purchase the site and build the school.
Twenty-five architects submitted plans for the High School building, some from as far away as Toronto and Vancouver. It was an Edmonton architect, Roland W. Lines, who was selected. Most of Lines’ work was for buildings in northern Alberta, although he designed one other Prince Albert building – the Union Bank building, which stood on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and 12th Street West. That banking firm was later taken over by the Royal Bank of Canada, and Lines’ building was demolished in the mid-1960s and replaced with the current building (now Hope Health Centre). Lines served with the Canadian Armed Forces during World War I, and was killed in action overseas.
The cornerstone of the building was laid on August 4th, 1908 by Mr. C.O. Davidson, the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge of Saskatchewan. The building’s construction did not run smoothly. The contractor, Sam Brown of Winnipeg, was given notice of eviction in August, 1909, but after a number of fractious meetings, the Board agreed to allow Brown to complete his contract. It is unclear if the Board’s decision to let all the sub-contracts themselves caused the initial difficulty, or if the Board gaining control of the sub-contracts during the meetings, cleared the way for them to allow the contractor to complete his task.
The Board’s pride in the new collegiate building can be seen in the landscaping which was completed. Trees and shrubs were ordered, as was Kentucky blue grass. The iron fountain, which still stands in the lawn to the north of the building, was ordered in 1911. The iron balcony over the original main doorway on the north side of the building was the work of Ralph Henderson, an immigrant from Scotland who arrived in Prince Albert in 1906 and established a blacksmith shop on 6th Street East.
The original school grounds, although only approximately half the size of today’s school yard, were planned to ensure that they could be used for various athletic and physical activities. The Board, it is said, felt that sound bodies would result in sound minds. It was not until 1926 that the second half of today’s school grounds was added. We have pictures in the Bill Smiley Archives to show that 21st Street originally ran straight through the school grounds, from 1st Avenue West to Central Avenue. The portion of the current school grounds south of the street was provincial Crown property which the Province decided to gift to the High School Board in 1926. (This was several years before the provincial Crown land now known as Kinsmen Park, previously Bryant Park, was gifted to the City.)
It was the school’s literary society, including Olive Freeman, who chose the school colours of red, black, and gold. They also chose the school motto, “Conatu Vincimus”, which translates from the Latin as “By striving we succeed”. The school song, “All Hail to the Collegiate” did not make its appearance until 1922. The author of the lyrics is unknown, but the song is sung to the same tune as that of Dalhousie University. The yearbook, “The Cynosure” (centre of attraction) made its debut in 1934.
In 1909, P.A.C.I. was referred to simply as the New High School. From 1911 to 1924 it was called Prince Albert High School. From 1925 to 1974 it was known as Prince Albert Collegiate Institute, while from 1975 to 1990, when it was a junior high, it was referred to as Prince Albert Central Institute. It has now returned to being called Prince Albert Collegiate Institute. P.A.C.I. now has another meaning: Pride – Achievement – Courage – Integrity.
Through the years, there have been many interesting situations and events. In the spring of 1912, the first tennis courts were built just west of the collegiate. The courts were fenced, the surface was clay, and the structure was still there into the 1960s. Also in 1912, an Army Cadet Corps was established in the High School. Two years later, some land was acquired for use as an aid in the teaching of agriculture.
In February of 1916, the City Health Officer closed the school as a result of seven cases of measles. During the flu epidemic of 1918, the school was again closed as it served as a temporary hospital. Many of the senior boys volunteered as porters at the hospital.
During the Second World War, the school again had an Air Cadet Corps, and eventually an Air Cadet Band. The band played in all the Victory parades, and in 1944 played in the “Pet” parade, as well as for the annual Cadet inspection, as well as at the Sanitorium. In addition, each class form had its Red Cross representative and a war savings stamp salesman.
The school’s population had grown considerably by the late 1930s, and an addition was built on the south side of the school in the late 1940s. This alleviated the problem for a short time but, by June 1953 classes were staggered once again to meet the accommodation problem. By September 1956, both teachers and students went on a “shift” system. P.A.C.I. students attended studies during the morning, while Riverside students attended classes in the afternoon. On February 4th, 1957, Riverside opened, and P.A.C.I. students were able to return to normal school hours from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Many and varied are the graduates of “the old school on the hill”, as are their achievements. From leaders in the First Nations community (Freda Ahenakew, Sol Sanderson), to professional athletes (Marshall Johnston, Orland Kurtenbach), to authors (Gerald Friesen, Douglas A. Hill), to actors (Graydon Gould, Janet Laine Green), to opera stars (Jon Vickers, Lesia Zubrack), to scientists (Ron Allen, Earl A. Christiansen), to captains of industry (Ted Newall, Allan R. Taylor), in the past one hundred and fifteen years the school’s graduates have gone on to greater accomplishments. It will be interesting to see in what professions the graduates will lead in the future.
fgpayton@sasktel.net
