Naming the West

Davisburg Student Story 2:
Industrial School

TAYAH:  Well now I will give Saylor and Morgan the mic and they will be interviewing Tayah and Brianna about the industrial school.  Well here is Morgan? MORGAN: Brianna I have been asking for some information do you think you could help me with some questions I have?

 

BRIANNA: I would be happy to.  What are your questions?

MORGAN: I am studying the Industrial School and I don t know any thing about it.  One of the questions I have is, how many kids in total in the first year? And when did it open?

 

TAYAH: Well the school opened in 1884.  The school started with only twenty kids and they were in between the age of fifteen and seventeen. Then it started to grow to 150 to 200 kids.

SAYLOR:  Brianna when you went to school did you have to do your own gardening?

 

BRIANNA:  Yes we did.

SAYLOR:  Why would you need a garden?

 

BRIANNA:  To grow food of course.

SAYLOR:  Was the Industrial School just there.  I can t find who built the school?

 

BRIANNA: The Canadian government built the school.

MORGAN: Why and when did the school close?

 

TAYAH:  The school closed on March 28 1922.  It closed because they didn t have enough students to go to the school.

 

SAYLOR:  I heard that the school went from grade 1-12 is that true Brianna?

 

 

BRIANNA:  Yes that is true Saylor.

 

MORGAN:  How long were the school days?

 

 

TAYAH:  The days were as long as the school days now but half of the day is spent in the class and the other half is spent doing industrial schoolwork.

SAYLOR:  I heard that there were five teachers and one principal is that true?

 

BRIANNA:  Yes there were five teachers and one principal.  Do you know what the principal name is?

MORGAN:  No what?

 

TAYAH:  The principal s name was Father Lacombe.  The five teachers were two brothers and three nuns.  This school was actually the first Industrial School built in Alberta.

 

MORGAN:  Wow the first Industrial School built in Alberta?

 

BRIANNA: That s right.

  

SAYLOR:  How much money did the teachers get paid a month?

 

TAYAH:  Every month the teachers got paid twenty-five dollars.

MORGAN:  Did they have farm animals?

 

TAYAH:  Yes we did.  We raised pigs, cattle, and horses.