Worsley Central School has a history to be proud of. From the days of the small one-room school, through the nineties, when we saw one of our students place second in the Dominion of Canada with her Legion Remembrance Day poem, when we sent basketball teams to Provincial playoffs and students to the Canada Wide Science Fair, and when we joined the World Wide Web community, Worsley School has enjoyed a proud tradition!
Worsley the community has been on the map since the beginning of the century, when a few settlers arrived, sometime around 1917. By the early thirties, there were many more; they came to the area to homestead, overcoming the hardships of snow and freezing temperatures in winter, mud and mosquitoes in the spring and summer. The trip from the railhead at Whitelaw was a tortuous overland journey by wagon and horse, often lasting three days.
By 1930, the railway was extended as far as Hines Creek; 1947 saw the small settlement at Worsley located where the cemetery is now. In 1954, the town was located near the present ball diamond; by 1955 it had become established in its present location on land purchased from Steve Regush by Ignats Ryback; Bill Whitford suggested the name 'Worsley' ...
... and it became official!
Worsley's school began in 1933, when the Scruggs boys, who had been receiving lessons by correspondence, got a teacher. Helen Reyda, hired by Joe Scruggs, taught school in a bunkhouse.
In 1934, Annie Shaw was hired to teach children from three different districts; she did this in the new log Ratepayers' Hall. Unfortunately, the hall, and all the schoolbooks, burnt to the ground in 1937; thereafter, school was held in an old granary.
Maryland School opened its doors on April 23, 1945, and became the center for the small community's social life, hosting plays, debates, and dances.
In 1951, the first centralized school for the Worsley District was opened. The two-room unit, with the addition of an old school building moved from another district, housed 89 elementary and 21 grade 9/10 students, who came from Dancing Hills, Horseshoe Valley, Marina, Clear Prairie, Maryland, and Deventer. Three motor vans and one horse-drawn van transported them to the new school.
In 1956, however, this school and its contents also burned to the ground! But by September of that year, a new building took its place ... the original building that eventually became the modern day Worsley Central School.
A gym and elementary wing were added in 1961, and in 1969, a high school wing with a lab, classroom, library, and office, was built.
The years 1990-91 saw a complete modernization of the building, which also included a computer room, a distance education room, a larger library, and a renovated gym, leaving us with the modern site we enjoy today.
No-one knows what the future will hold, but it is safe to say that Worsley Central School has been a focus in the community for education, recreation, and social events for many decades. May there be many more!
We have a collection of old class, staff, and school activity pictures you might like to look at, dating back to the early sixties. Visit The Vault. If you can contribute a few more for scanning, we'd really appreciate it.
|
Thank you to Janet Guy and the student staffs of the 1995 and 1996 Worsley Yearbooks, whose research for the history sections of those books made these pages possible. We would like to add more pictures and information to this page; if you think you might have something to contribute, please visit our 'Contributions' page.
|
Back |
Contribute to Our History Page | Worsley School
|