Van Wagner's Beach School Yearbook

This was sent in by member Mirene:tbu:

"The GEM. It was the yearbook, copied on that blue copy stuff. Not the greatest literary work but put together by the last class that attended Van Wagner's Beach School in 1962. I'm attaching the history written by our teacher Lois Evans and the cover and picture of the class. I didn't realize at the time that we were the last of a school that had existed from the turn of the century."

When did Van Wagner's School open?

From the book, Memories of Van Wagner's Beach and Parkview Survey;

In 1904 a plot of land owned by the Gage family was purchased for $915. This site, at Lot 28 of the Broken Front, very close to the edge of Lake Ontario, was to be used for the construction of a new schoolhouse. The two-room building was completed at a cost of $5200. Like it's predecessors, it was named Van Wagner's School after P.S. Van Wagner, an early landowner.
The school opened in 1905.

Scott, the thread 'the History of Bell Cairn School' states, "SCHOOL HISTORY
The children of the earliest Beach families attended school at Van Wagner's Beach. After the coming of the radial car in 1896, some families chose to send their children to city schools. However, the area was still considered part of the Van Wagner school section and school taxes collected from Beach property owners went toward the support of that section."
http://hamiltonbeachcommunity.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-958.html

So this would seem to imply that Van Wagner's School opened before the commencement of the radial which was in 1896.
http://hamiltontransithistory.alotspace.com/HRER.html

There were other Van Wagner Schools, the one that still exists (now Baranga's Restaurant) is the one that opened in 1905.

From the book, Memories of Van Wagner's Beach and Parkview Survey

The first private school in the area, presumably built some time before 1800, was located on the property of Lieutenant John Young on Lot 30 of the Broken Front. This cottage-like school was of log construction and consisted of only one room. Around the sides of the room, shelves were fastened along the walls and served as desks. Log benches were used as chairs. In the middle of the room sat the teacher, who later moved to the front of the room and onto a platform, where he was better able to keep an eye on the pupils. The school was heated by a box stove located near the centre of the room. The building was later purchased by John Lottridge and used as a black-
smith shop.
In 1816, the Common School Act was passed. This act was the commencement of a series of changes that would lead to the public education system as we know it today and can be partially accredited to the Hon. John Wilson of Winona. Common elementary schools were now established for the use of all area children. Around 1830, the districts were divided into small sections, all of which were to have at least one school. Saltfleet had a total of 11 school sections and the area in which the present Van Wagner's Beach Schoolhouse stands was School Section
#4.
It was perhaps during the 1830s that the second school in the area was constructed. The school was located just west of the previous school on the Lakeshore Road, midway between Lake
Avenue and the present Highway #20. Of frame construction, this building was quite similar to its predecessor.

This building met the educational needs of all of its students until it close its doors in 1905 and the present school opened. The abandoned school stood until 1917, when it was sold to the Anglican Church.