Naming the West : Stories Turner Valley

Turner Valley Student Story 2:
Turner Valley School

The need for me became evident when oil was discovered on the banks of Sheep Creek in the Turner Valley area.  I was an elementary school made after the over-crowded distant Cottage School.  My doors opened on September 1st, 1929.  The first person to educate children within my walls was Miss Blanche Garrison.  But soon I was moved across the street because the oil company needed my land.  My walls became very crowded and I grew from two to four and then six classrooms.  During the war years many students came to me for education.  In one class there were fifty-three students.  Sometimes the teaching would have to sop because of the rumbling and noise coming from the flares.  If the children were thirsty they could grab some water from the forty gallon barrel of drinking water inside the main entrance.  I think I was decorated nicely on the outside with snow white trimmed with bright yellow.  My structure has changed a fair amount but I am still standing where I was moved that day.