Toronto Normal School
Encyclopedia
The Toronto Normal School was a teachers college in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
. Opened in 1847, the Normal School was located at Church and Gould streets in central Toronto, and was a predecessor to the current Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
. The Royal Ontario Museum
, the Ontario College of Art & Design
and the Ontario Agricultural College
all originated at the Normal School's campus, officially named St. James Square, such that the school became known as "the cradle of Ontario's education system". The school's landmark Gothic-Romanesque building was designed by architects Thomas Ridout
and Frederick William Cumberland
in 1852. . The landmark building was demolished in 1963, but architectural elements of the structure remain on the campus of Ryerson University
.
first recognized the need to establish a normal school
in the colony to train teachers. It was not until 1846, however, that Egerton Ryerson
issued his landmark report entitled "Report on a System of Public Elementary Education for Upper Canada". In that year, the United Province of Canada
passed its School Act of 1846, which provided for initial grant of $6,000 for the construction of a building and for an annual subsidy of $6,000 for maintenance of the school.
On November 1, 1847, the Provincial Normal School, as it was first known, opened in the former Government House of Upper Canada. An accompanying Provincial Model School was opened in 1848, in the renovated Government House stables.
In 1849, the Parliament Buildings in Montreal
were burned down in a riot
, and the capital of the Province of Canada was relocated to Toronto. The colonial administration required the use of the old Government House, and the Normal School was temporarily displaced to the former Temperance Hall on Temperance Street.
On July 2, 1851, the cornerstone for a new building was laid was Governor General Lord Elgin
, and the Normal School building opened in May 1852. The new building was designed to accommodate two hundred teachers-in-training and six hundred pupils. It was situated on a 3.2 hectare
(8 acre
s) site, bounded by Gerrard, Church, Gould and Victoria streets, which Ryerson had acquired for the Normal School at a cost of 4500 pounds. The site was described in 1858 as follows: "The situation is a very beautiful one, being considerably elevated above the business parts of the city, and commanding a fine view of the bay, peninsula and lake."
The property became known as St. James Square, and was soon used for more than teacher training purposes. A 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plot was set aside for a botanical garden, with another 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) reserved for agricultural experiments. The agricultural work on the site prompted the founding of the Ontario Agricultural College
in 1874, which later became the University of Guelph
.
Ryerson wanted the Normal School to be a focal point of the development of arts and education in Upper Canada. In 1857, Canada's first publicly-funded museum, The Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts, was established within the Normal School building, with its initial collection based largely on Egerton Ryerson's own artwork, statuary and scientific apparatus acquired during his trips to Europe. In 1896, the archaeological and ethnographic collections of the Canadian Institute
of Toronto, headed by David Boyle
, were transferred to the Normal School. Boyle would remain its curator and later its superintendent until his death in 1911. The museum later evolved into the Royal Ontario Museum
.
The Ontario Society of Artists, founded in 1872, used the Normal School as its headquarters. The Society operated an art school on the St. James Square site, which eventually became the Ontario College of Art & Design
.
The building also housed the Province's Department of Education
. These various activities at St. James Square lead to its designation as "the cradle of Ontario's education system".
With the construction of its new building, the name of the Normal School was changed to the Normal School for Upper Canada. Upon Confederation
in 1867, it was renamed the Normal School for Ontario. The opening of the Ottawa Normal School
in 1875 prompted a further renaming to Toronto Normal School. It was known by this name for 78 years, when the Government of Ontario
eliminated the "normal school" nomenclature for its teacher training institutions, and the school became the Toronto Teachers' College in 1953.
As it had almost a century before, turmoil again led to the eviction of the Normal School from its facilities. Due the demands of the Second World War
, the Normal School was forced to relocate to a former elementary school site at Pape and Mortimer Avenues in nearby East York
in 1941. The model school was dissolved. St. James Square became the No. 6 Initial Training Centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force
, and a number of barracks and other auxiliary buildings were constructed on the site.
After the war, the St. James Square property was given to the new Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute in 1945, a joint-venture of the federal
and provincial
governments to train ex-servicemen and women. The institute became Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1948, and would ultimately become Ryerson University
. The beginnings of the new institution were inauspicious: one local media report described the new Ryerson Institute as consisting of "a dirty, old three-storey building [the Normal School building] surrounded by asbestos-sided shacks [the war-time buildings]."
Meanwhile, the new Toronto Teachers' College (formerly the Normal School) moved into a new facility at Carlaw and Mortimer Avenues in East York in 1955. The Toronto Teachers' College was absorbed into the new Ontario Teacher Education College in 1974. In 1979, the College was closed and its Toronto campus amalgamated with the University of Toronto
's Faculty of Education. In 1996, the institution became the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
.
quadrangle building. A two-storey portion of the Normal School front façade was preserved (later named the Arch) and currently forms the entrance to the Ryerson University Recreation and Athletics Centre.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Opened in 1847, the Normal School was located at Church and Gould streets in central Toronto, and was a predecessor to the current Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto is a teachers' college in Toronto, Ontario.-History:OISE/UT traces its origins to the founding of the Provincial Normal School in 1847...
. The Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
, the Ontario College of Art & Design
Ontario College of Art & Design
OCAD University is Canada's largest and oldest educational institution for art and design. It is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on McCaul Street beside the Art Gallery of Ontario...
and the Ontario Agricultural College
Ontario Agricultural College
The Ontario Agricultural College originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto...
all originated at the Normal School's campus, officially named St. James Square, such that the school became known as "the cradle of Ontario's education system". The school's landmark Gothic-Romanesque building was designed by architects Thomas Ridout
Thomas Ridout
Thomas Ridout was a political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Sherborne, England in 1754 and came to Maryland in 1774. In 1787, he was travelling to Kentucky when his group was captured by a party of Shawnees; he was held captive and later released in Detroit, then held by the British...
and Frederick William Cumberland
Frederick William Cumberland
Frederick William Cumberland was a Canadian engineer, architect and political figure. He represented the riding of Algoma in the 1st and 2nd Ontario Parliaments and in the Canadian House of Commons from 1871 to 1872....
in 1852. . The landmark building was demolished in 1963, but architectural elements of the structure remain on the campus of Ryerson University
Ryerson University
Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
.
Establishment
In the 1830s, the authorities in Upper CanadaUpper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
first recognized the need to establish a normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
in the colony to train teachers. It was not until 1846, however, that Egerton Ryerson
Egerton Ryerson
Adolphus Egerton Ryerson was a Methodist minister, educator, politician, and public education advocate in early Ontario, Canada...
issued his landmark report entitled "Report on a System of Public Elementary Education for Upper Canada". In that year, the United Province of Canada
Province of Canada
The Province of Canada, United Province of Canada, or the United Canadas was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of...
passed its School Act of 1846, which provided for initial grant of $6,000 for the construction of a building and for an annual subsidy of $6,000 for maintenance of the school.
On November 1, 1847, the Provincial Normal School, as it was first known, opened in the former Government House of Upper Canada. An accompanying Provincial Model School was opened in 1848, in the renovated Government House stables.
In 1849, the Parliament Buildings in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
were burned down in a riot
Rebellion Losses Bill
The Rebellion Losses Bill was a controversial law enacted by the legislature of the Province of Canada in 1849...
, and the capital of the Province of Canada was relocated to Toronto. The colonial administration required the use of the old Government House, and the Normal School was temporarily displaced to the former Temperance Hall on Temperance Street.
St. James Square
James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin
Sir James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, KT, GCB, PC , was a British colonial administrator and diplomat...
, and the Normal School building opened in May 1852. The new building was designed to accommodate two hundred teachers-in-training and six hundred pupils. It was situated on a 3.2 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
(8 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s) site, bounded by Gerrard, Church, Gould and Victoria streets, which Ryerson had acquired for the Normal School at a cost of 4500 pounds. The site was described in 1858 as follows: "The situation is a very beautiful one, being considerably elevated above the business parts of the city, and commanding a fine view of the bay, peninsula and lake."
The property became known as St. James Square, and was soon used for more than teacher training purposes. A 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) plot was set aside for a botanical garden, with another 3 acres (12,140.6 m²) reserved for agricultural experiments. The agricultural work on the site prompted the founding of the Ontario Agricultural College
Ontario Agricultural College
The Ontario Agricultural College originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto...
in 1874, which later became the University of Guelph
University of Guelph
The University of Guelph, also known as U of G, is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College, the Macdonald Institute, and the Ontario Veterinary College...
.
Ryerson wanted the Normal School to be a focal point of the development of arts and education in Upper Canada. In 1857, Canada's first publicly-funded museum, The Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts, was established within the Normal School building, with its initial collection based largely on Egerton Ryerson's own artwork, statuary and scientific apparatus acquired during his trips to Europe. In 1896, the archaeological and ethnographic collections of the Canadian Institute
Royal Canadian Institute
The Royal Canadian Institute, or RCI, is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science.First formed in 1849 by Sir Sandford Fleming, it was originally conceived of as an organization for engineers and surveyors, but quickly became more general in its scientific interests. Incorporated in...
of Toronto, headed by David Boyle
David Boyle (archaeologist)
David Boyle was a Canadian blacksmith, teacher, archaeologist, musicologist, and historian....
, were transferred to the Normal School. Boyle would remain its curator and later its superintendent until his death in 1911. The museum later evolved into the Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum is a museum of world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With its main entrance facing Bloor Street in Downtown Toronto, the museum is situated north of Queen's Park and east of Philosopher's Walk in the University of Toronto...
.
The Ontario Society of Artists, founded in 1872, used the Normal School as its headquarters. The Society operated an art school on the St. James Square site, which eventually became the Ontario College of Art & Design
Ontario College of Art & Design
OCAD University is Canada's largest and oldest educational institution for art and design. It is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on McCaul Street beside the Art Gallery of Ontario...
.
The building also housed the Province's Department of Education
Ministry of Education (Ontario)
The Ministry of Education is the agency of the Ontario government in the Canadian province of Ontario responsible for government policy, funding, curriculum planning and direction in all levels of public education, including elementary and secondary schools.This Ministry is responsible for...
. These various activities at St. James Square lead to its designation as "the cradle of Ontario's education system".
With the construction of its new building, the name of the Normal School was changed to the Normal School for Upper Canada. Upon Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
in 1867, it was renamed the Normal School for Ontario. The opening of the Ottawa Normal School
Ottawa Normal School
The Heritage Building is today part of Ottawa City Hall. It was originally built in 1874 as Ottawa Normal School and served as a teacher's college. The Gothic Revival building stands at Elgin Street and Lisgar and several extensions were added to the rear of the building.It was part of Ontario's...
in 1875 prompted a further renaming to Toronto Normal School. It was known by this name for 78 years, when the Government of Ontario
Government of Ontario
The Government of Ontario refers to the provincial government of the province of Ontario, Canada. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
eliminated the "normal school" nomenclature for its teacher training institutions, and the school became the Toronto Teachers' College in 1953.
Transition years
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Normal School was forced to relocate to a former elementary school site at Pape and Mortimer Avenues in nearby East York
East York
East York can refer to:*East York, Pennsylvania, United States*East York, Ontario, Canada...
in 1941. The model school was dissolved. St. James Square became the No. 6 Initial Training Centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
, and a number of barracks and other auxiliary buildings were constructed on the site.
After the war, the St. James Square property was given to the new Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute in 1945, a joint-venture of the federal
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
and provincial
Government of Ontario
The Government of Ontario refers to the provincial government of the province of Ontario, Canada. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867....
governments to train ex-servicemen and women. The institute became Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1948, and would ultimately become Ryerson University
Ryerson University
Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
. The beginnings of the new institution were inauspicious: one local media report described the new Ryerson Institute as consisting of "a dirty, old three-storey building [the Normal School building] surrounded by asbestos-sided shacks [the war-time buildings]."
Meanwhile, the new Toronto Teachers' College (formerly the Normal School) moved into a new facility at Carlaw and Mortimer Avenues in East York in 1955. The Toronto Teachers' College was absorbed into the new Ontario Teacher Education College in 1974. In 1979, the College was closed and its Toronto campus amalgamated with the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
's Faculty of Education. In 1996, the institution became the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto is a teachers' college in Toronto, Ontario.-History:OISE/UT traces its origins to the founding of the Provincial Normal School in 1847...
.
Demolition of St. James Square buildings
The growing Ryerson Institute soon outgrew the ageing St. James Square buildings. The former Normal School building and surrounding structures were demolished between 1958 and 1963, and replaced by the Kerr HallKerr Hall
Kerr Hall is a series of four buildings in a square forming the Ryerson Community Park, also known as the Quad, on the campus of Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. The site of the former Toronto Normal School...
quadrangle building. A two-storey portion of the Normal School front façade was preserved (later named the Arch) and currently forms the entrance to the Ryerson University Recreation and Athletics Centre.