by Henry Hammond and others

About 1909 the folks living in the area on the south edge of the Porcupine Hills were granted permission to form a school district. At that point, rural schools levied their own school taxes within their designated area, and the Secretary-Treasurer was empowered and given the responsibility to collect these taxes and account for the disbursement of the funds. Apart from the yearly visit from the “School Inspector” who always arrived unannounced and struck terror into the hearts of teacher and pupils alike with his superior and arrogant manner, the people of the area were more or less on their own as far as the operation of the school was concerned.

When the people living in the area later known as Ashvale decided to build a school, the matter of location was a controversial issue, since everyone wanted the school as close to their home as possible. Distance was important in those days since travel was by horseback, horse and buggy or by “shanks pony”. To settle the problem with fairness to all, it was decided to locate the school in the exact centre of the district. This location proved to be on the bank of a deep coulee which was very difficult to cross in the winter months. So the next problem was whether the location should be on the south side or the north side of the coulee. Because more families with children lived on the north side than the south, the folks on the north held the majority vote, and the north location was chosen.

As a peace offering, the Hammond family on the south was given the honour of choosing the name for the school. Mrs. Grace Hammond suggested the name of Ashvale since she and her husband Tom had recently planted several thousand maple and ash trees, and expected the neighbors would do the same. Tom visualized a valley dotted with groves of ash and maple, similar to the Port Dover District in Ontario where he was born. The ash trees are still growing on the Hammond farm, most of the neighbours are still without trees, and the Ashvale School, after serving the community well for 78 years both as a school and a social centre, was moved in June 1990 to the new location at the Antique Threshers Museum, where it will be refitted (to its “former splendor”?) and preserved as an historic structure. Two lonely outhouses, leaning in opposite directions like miniature Towers of Pisa and a rock foundation are all that remain to mark the original location of the Ashvale School.

The School was opened in 1909 with Miss Dora Gamble as Teacher, followed by Miss Connel. In just a few years the School was closed because there were not enough pupils to warrant the cost of operating the school. The few students in the district were obliged to attend the nearest school which was open at the time. The Ashvale School re-opened again in 1918 with Grace Hammond as Teacher. She had three of her own children in her classes. When she taught again in 1945 and 1946 she had four of her grandchildren among her pupils.

Mr. Harold Lewis who had recently arrived from England with his wife to take up a homestead served as Secretary-Treasurer of the School District almost from the start and remained in that position until the rural schools were consolidated into the Pincher Creek School Division in 1938 as part of Premier Aberhart’s radical school reform program. When the students were few the School closed as it was not economically possible to keep it open. During those periods several pupils including Robert Allan Hammond, Eunice and Vaughn Hammond and Louis Louchart attended as many as three different schools, whichever was open. These were Ashvale, Summerview and Tennessee. Joe and Charlie Enes attended both Ashvale and Waldron, until the Waldron School was destroyed by fire. These students were forced to ride horseback as far as seven miles, often in severe winter weather, cutting straight across country to save time. This was quite a feat for children who had not yet reached their teens. For a few years when the pupils were all very small he School was opened in the summer months and closed during the harvest time so the older boys and girls could keep in the fields or the kitchen preparing meals for the threshing crews.

The school barn was an important part of the rural school system. In winter everyone wanted their horses out of the weather during the seven or eight hours they had to stand around. The barn was often overcrowded and required frequent cleaning, another job for the older boys. In spring and fall the horses pastured the school grounds, keeping the grass and weeds under control and the barn clean.

Usually one of the older boys took on the job as school janitor. There was no shortage of applicants as the position paid $5.00 per month. In addition to cleaning the school, the “lucky” student arrived at 8:00 a.m. to build a fire in the old pot bellied stove so there was some semblance of heat in the school before the teacher and pupils arrived at 9:00 a.m. In really cold weather the room never got warm enough to sit in comfort without a coat. Water for the school was obtained from a spring in the bottom of the deep coulee. Packing a pail of water up the long steep coulee bank was quite a chore, particularly in the winter months when the snow bank required the cutting of steps in the near vertical slope. Usually three or four boys made the trip during recess and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, often using the difficulties encountered as an excuse to be five or ten minutes late for classes.

When the barn, a building about 16’ y 28’, was no longer needed it was sold to a farmer who tried to move it on pole skids the six miles to his place. However the old barn, like a senior citizen, seemed reluctant to change its location or occupation after all those years, and about two miles down the road, it utterly collapsed and rolled off into the ditch, a useless pile of splintered and scrap lumber, and was cremated on the spot.

The pupils who attended Ashvale School were privileged to receive instruction from a long list of excellent teaches. Many were first year Normal School graduates, still in their late teens or early twenties, while others were endowed with the wisdom and skills which are acquired only after years of experience in the classroom. The young teachers were always courted by the eligible bachelors in the district, making life interesting and bearable for both families.

The Burgess family began school later in 1928. Harold recalls his first teacher as Matthew Halton, the man our present day High School is named after. There were sixteen students at that time in a very small school house. There were many memorable happenings during the years as there was in any of the small schools. One recollection of 1935 during the summer was when Harold’s cousin Miss Doris Cox was teaching. During a nature study session they were to study the prairie gopher. Using a length of binder twine the older school boys were sent out to capture a gopher. This they did without much trouble as they were plentiful that year. They brought the live animal into the school in a cardboard box. During the class study someone asked if gophers were good to eat. The teacher did not know, but why wouldn’t they be, gophers just eat grain and grass! After much deliberation, it was decided the only way to know was to try it. So the gopher was killed, skinned, dressed out and parts were cooked over an open fire. The teacher Miss Cox and three of the class were game enough to try this delicacy. Well the end result was that all four got sick so the resent of the school got a half-day holiday.

The Ashvale School, which had its beginnings in the days before a gas motor and when the only oil used was in the coal oil lamps, was closed as a house of learning in 1959 but continued to serve the community as a centre for many dances, showers, pot-luck suppers and farewell parties, until the day it went sailing down the road in a cloud of dust on the flat bed of a semi-trailer truck, to begin its new role in its new location, as an historical reminder of the good old days.

Many of the families involved in the building and operation of the School over the years are included in the following list. Also included is a list of teachers and the dates when they taught. Additional information or corrections would be gratefully received.

ASHVALE TEACHERS
*Those marked with an asterisk indicates the date unsure.

Miss Dora Gamble 1909*
Miss Connel 1911*
Mrs. Grace Hammond 1918 – 1920
Mrs. Grace Hammond 1920 – 1921
Miss Ethel Mountifield 1921 – 1922
Miss Margaret Hallsworth 1922 – 1923*
Miss Jenny Harper 1923 – 1924
Miss Mary Anderson 1924 – 1925
Miss Ethel Christophenson 1925 – 1926
Miss McLean 1926 – 1927*
Mr. Matthew Halton 1927 – 1928
Mr. Walter Wilson 1928 – 1929
Peggy Robertson 1929 – 1930
Miss Edna Colclough 1930 – 1932
Miss Mary Hammond 1932 – 1934
Miss Alva Ballantyne 1934 – 1935
Miss Doris Cox 1935 – 1937
Miss Rosemary Formus 1937 – 1938*
School Closed for a few years 1938 – 1944
Mrs. Grace Hammond 1945 – 1947
Mrs. Grace Hammond 1947 – 1948*
Mr. George Porter 1949 – 1950
Mr. Porter died of a heart attack in school and the term was finished by Miss Helen Simpson.
Miss Helen Simpson 1950 – 1951
Miss Alice Boyle 1951 – 1952
Mr. Chico Sawada 1952 – 1953
Mrs. Beatrice Reilly 1953 – 1954
Mrs. Ruby Waltbauer 1954 – 1957
Mr. Joe Faminow 1957 – 1959
School closed for the last time 1959

FAMILIES OF ASHVALE SCHOOL

Angliss -Ernie and George (both bachelors)
Anhill -Jake (“Co”) (bachelor)
Barnett -Mr. and Mrs. Dave: son Walter
Barnett -George (bachelor)
Bentley -Alice attended Ashvale
Boag -Charlie and brother Jack
Braston -Alice attended Ashvale and stayed with her sister Alma from 1924-29
Bunts -Bill
Burgess: -Fred and Alma: sons Walter and Harold
Carney: -Bob and Enid: sons Marshall and Lawrence
-Second Generation:
-Lawrence and Patricia: family Bonnie and Elenore
Carney: -Jim and Mary: son Johnny
-Second Generation:
-Johnny and Edna: family Barry and Dennis
Connor: -Denzil and Katie: family Roy and Evelyn
Cote: -Joe (bachelor)
Enes: -Joe and Elizabeth: family Joe and Charlie
-Second Generation:
-Joe and Dorothy: family Cheryl, Marilyn and Marvin
-Charlie and Margaret: son Howard
Enes: -Justin (bachelor)
Everts: -Dave and Annie: family Lillian, Leotta, Richard, Leon, (Bill, Alma, Clara) did not attend Ashvale.
Hammond: -Tom and Grace: family Vaughn, Eunice, Mary, Thomas and Henry
-Second Generation:
-Thomas and Helen: family Marjorie, Janet, Scotty and Ann
-Henry and Dorothy: family Charlotte, Bruce, Brian and Rose Mary
Hutchins: -Arthur and Julien: family Madeline and Raymond
-Second Generation:
-Raymond and Betty: family Sidney, Cecilia, Marie and Douglas
Lewis: -Harold and Ivy: family Ronald, Edna and David
-Second Generation:
-David and Mable: family Dwain and Terry
Louchart: -Louis and Melvina: family Louis and Julian
Middleton: -Mrs. Middleton often acted as midwife in the area.
Morris: -The Morris family moved to Waterton about 1919 and was prominent in the early development of the Park.
Nelson: -Mr. and Mrs. Nelson: family Nellie and Lucilli
Robertson: -Bob and Audria: family Donald, Keith and Alister
-Second Generation:
-Donald and Lavinia: Winnifred
-Keith and Alma: Phena, Audria and Dale

OTHER FAMILIES DURING THE SECOND GENERATION:

Hall: -Dick and Madeliene
Truitt: -Dutch and Hazel: Alvin, Wayne and Karen