We are the oldest standing elementary school in the Toronto District School Board: John Fisher Public School began its long history in 1816 when it was built as a log schoolhouse to serve the agricultural community of Eglinton, located north of the Town of York. It was then known as the “Eglinton School”. It was located steps from Montgomery’s Tavern where in 1837, a historic confrontation occurred between the troops of the government of Upper Canada and rebel forces, led by William Lyon Mackenzie, who wanted to extend voting and land rights to a larger section of the population. Young William McDougall, a student of the school, witnessed this battle – he later became a father of Confederation and Minister of Public Works in the Cabinet of Sir John A. Macdonald.
Our building: When the original log schoolhouse burned down, another one was rebuilt on the west side of Yonge Street near Castlefield Avenue, behind what is now the Capitol theatre. In 1850, the first one-room, one-storey brick school was built probably on the same site – it still exists as the Eglinton Orange Hall. In 1887, a larger two-storey, four-room school was built at its current location on Erskine Avenue. During the 2007-2008 school year, we celebrated the anniversary of this school building which is still contained within the current school. The original building was a large square structure with an imposing bell tower and faced east towards Mount Pleasant Avenue. The local architectural firm of William Ramsay and John Fisher designed and built this buiilding. John Fisher would go on to become the first Mayor of the town of North Toronto.
- Staff and students in 1887
How we got our name: In 1915, the final name change occurred as the school was officially named in honour of John Fisher. The story associated with this name change is a fascinating piece of North Toronto history as it solved the name confusion between the original “Eglinton School” which was actually on Erskine Avenue and a new school that had been built on Eglinton Avenue – which is now known as Eglinton Public School.
- Mayor of North Toronto and architect of the school
A historic site: John Fisher is listed as a historic site with the City of Toronto. Many additions have been made to this building over the years, with new wings being built on its west, south and finally north side. The final addition was made in 1987 - a spacious new gym on the east side of the building. One of the interesting features of this addition is that it was built in such a way as to preserve the original front wall of the school which is now the corridor to the new gym. Current students of the school, who use this passage every day, are very proud of having “the oldest elementary school wall in the city” in their own school. As these additions were built, the configuration of the school’s playgrounds, entrances and parking areas have changed significantly.
School programs: Over the course of this long history, John Fisher has housed a variety of school programs, starting as a “common school” with eight elementary grades in 1816, and gradually adding specialized programs such as a school for the deaf and a specialized home economics and shop programs for students of neighbouring schools. Both these programs drew students from a large area of the city.
The largest French Immersion Centre in the Toronto District School Board: In 1977, an Early French Immersion Program was introduced and by 1982 the school had become a French Immersion Centre. It continues to be the largest such centre in the Toronto District School Board with 550 students enrolled in this bilingual program from Senior Kindergarten to Grade 6. During the 2007-2008 anniversary year, the school celebrated with several projects designed to bring its unique history to its current students and community, and to bring back graduates and former staff to celebrate. Celebrations included holding an “1887 School Day at John Fisher” on Friday, June 13, 2008, during which staff and students re-enacted the inauguration of the school and held a typical school day in 1887: Costumes, lessons, school rules, games, snacks all dated from that time. In addition, staff and students painted a large mural in the front foyer on the theme of “Roots and Wings”- mural artist Marsha Stonehouse has worked with students to develop the design. Older students collected oral histories of the school from former students, parents and staff with the intention of publishing an anniversary collection. Staff is working on school archives and picture displays. For further details of these projects and events please go go the “Anniversary Celebrations” page of this website. Anyone who attended the school or has any knowledge of it,is warmly invited to contact us so that we can continue to add to our collected memories of this wonderful and thriving school. Below you will find a sample of the many pictures housed in our Archives.
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