In March of 1919 the Wheat Ridge School board borrowed $2,000 from the Veteran branch of the Bank of Toronto, and the Wheat Ridge school was built eight miles east of Talbot and one mile south, on the S.E section 33, township 37 Range 8, west of 4th.
The school opened on July 14, 1919 with Miss Anderson teaching eight students. Miss Anderson stayed for that first school year of 1919-1920.
That was the way it was for the country school. It was very hard to get and keep teachers.
The Wheat Ridge school had approximately 29 teachers during its time. Eileen Hailstone taught there twice, from 1941-1946 and again for the 1949-1950 school year.
The teacher would be boarded at the home of a local family, and this was considered an honour for the family. The little bit of extra money was always needed.
Mr. and Mrs. E. Crookes lived across the road from the school and often boarded the teacher.
They brought in a teacherage for Harve Wight and his family. Mr. Wight was the last teacher for the school. He taught for the year of 1957-58 and then the school was shut down.
Wheat Ridge school was a fairly small school and it never had a lot of students, having started with eight and when it closed there were about 15.
Having the school meant that those 10 - 15 children could get an education that they might not have been able to get otherwise.
The Wheat Ridge school has a lot of memories for the people of this area.
Elmer Bridge started school there in 1922, walking the two miles to school everyday. A person doesn’t usually remember much about Grade 1, however, Elmer says he can remember playing soccer and getting into trouble. What kind of trouble he wouldn’t say.
Harvey Johnstone attended the Wheat Ridge school from 1952 until it closed in 1958. He remembers the Christmas concerts. When he was in Grade 3 he had to get up on stage and sing “Bluebird on my Windowsill.” He remembers being “terrified”.
Harvey used to ride his pony to school. This would take him about one hour. One winter day just before the Christmas concert his pony bucked him off and he landed face down in some frozen gravel. That year he was on stage sporting two black eyes.
The school Christmas concert was a big part of the holiday for all of the community. Those little one room schools would be packed solid with parents and relatives all wanting to see their children do their part.
Some people were very upset about the school closing. They were afraid that would mean the end of Christmas concerts.
The Nose Hills correspondent sent in this report .

September 4, 1958
“Nose Hills Highlights
“What is happening to community life? Years ago the rural teacher always held a Christmas entertainment at which each one of the pupils took an active part, and all the people of the community looked forward to that night.
Last year we had only one such entertainment at Wheat Ridge school now that school is closed.
Centralization of schools has its advantages, but can’t provide the pleasure for each individual parent of seeing and hearing each of their own children on stage.”

The people of the area made good use of their school. The Wheat Ridge school was one of the “churches” on the Lakesend Mission field.
Church services would be held on a regular basis during the summer, usually with a student minister. Herb and Frank Sibley were Sunday school teachers for many years.
When the school was closed the W & N (Wheat Ridge and Nose Hills) Women’s Club kept it going as a community centre, using it for social evenings, ball games, showers and yes, even Christmas concerts.
The Wheat Ridge School Board would sponsor evenings for fundraisers to help pay for the upkeep of the school.
I found this in 1960:

January 28, 1960
“Nose Hill Highlights
“The pie social sponsored by the Wheat Ridge School Board recently was a real success. Proceeds of $16.00 went toward paying to keep electricity in the school.”
In the Nose Hills Highlights in the November 10, 1966 of the Review it was reported that the Wheatridge School was purchased from Special Areas for a Community Hall.

The one room school is really a thing of the past now. Most of the school buildings torn down or used for farm granaries, a sad fate for a building that helped shape a child.
Wheat Ridge school is being spared that fate. The Coronation Museum & Historical Society have brought the school here to Coronation.
It arrived here on Friday December 2, 2005 and was set on its new home just east of the restored C.P.R. Roadmaster’s House in Coronation Heritage Park & Museum.
The school is being brought back to its original (or as close as possible) fine appearance by the Coronation Museum & Historical Society, with many volunteers including the help of Barry Mason who is doing some of the stone work and Bill Kieser did all the electrical work.
Keith Pieper of Kena Hardware has generously donated and cut the glass to replace the broken windows and carpenters are volunteering their time.
Wheat Ridge school will continue to do what it was built to do; educate children, only now it will do so by showing the children of the present and future, what the schools of the past were like.
The Coronation Museum & Historical Society are looking for 8 x 10 pictures of old schools of the area. They would really appreciate any that you could bring in as they want to line the walls in the Wheat Ridge school with them.

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