Address: 310 Vaughan Street
Architect: Samuel Hooper
Constructed: 1898 -99
Background:
September 27, 1898, Winnipeg Tribune
The cornerstone for Isbister School was laid on September 26, 1888 by Joseph Carman, Winnipeg School Board chairman.
At the ceremony, he said: "The walls that you see rising before you are an expression of the universal desire of our citizens to give their children who will succeed them such a training as will enable them to carry on worthily the work of nation building which their fathers have so well begun."
It is named for teacher and lawyer Alexander Kennedy Isbister.
The $20,000 building, which was constructed to relieve overcrowding pressure at the ageing Mulvey School building opened in March 1889.
By 1900, Isbister had an enrollment of 530 pupils which was one of the city's largest. In the post-war period attendance began to decline as more families opted to live in the suburbs.
In 1966, the building became home to the Winnipeg School Division's Winnipeg Adult Education Centre offering high school equivalence courses.
In 1984, the building was designated a provincial heritage site and is the oldest surviving public school building in the city.
Renovations to the original building, including a new glass and stone extension to the west side, was added in 2003 - 04.
Aside from high school equivalency, the centre offers basic literacy courses, English as a Second Language and computer training and has a staff of 45 teachers.
In 2007 - 2008, 940 students attended the WAEC.
Through the years:
1903:
1971:
2008:Related:
WAEC School History Winnipeg School Division
Isbister School Heritage Winnipeg
Corner Glass Canadian Architect (pdf version)
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