Description of Historic Place

The Old School (Teacherage) is a Municipal Heritage Property located adjacent to the Strasbourg and District Museum at 501 Railway Avenue in the Town of Strasbourg. The property features a one-storey, wood-frame building which was constructed in 1906.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of Strasbourg’s Old School (Teacherage) resides in its status as the first school in Strasbourg and in its contribution to early education in the area. With the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the summer of 1905, the settlement grew rapidly and before the end of that year, a group of local businessmen and farmers successfully petitioned the Saskatchewan government for their own Public School district. Strasbourg School District No. 1542 was soon formed and contractor J.A. Hill completed the one-room, wood-frame school in time for its opening in September, 1906. By 1910, the school was over-crowded and a four-room brick school was constructed adjacent to the original school. The Old School continued to serve as an auxiliary classroom until 1973. The building then served as a kindergarten for the next decade and, subsequently, as a practice facility for the local band and the Last Mountain Drama Club until it was moved to the Strasbourg and District Museum site in 2007.

Heritage value also lies in the building’s historical integrity, which, although larger than most early wood-frame schools, is representative of the typical one-room schools constructed throughout Saskatchewan during the first decades of the twentieth century. This style can be observed in the building’s rectangular form, gable roof, pattern of window openings, and clapboard siding. Interior elements that contribute to the building’s heritage value include the wood flooring and mouldings.

Source:

Town of Strasbourg Bylaw No. 308/06.

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of Strasbourg’s Old School (Teacherage) lies in the following character-defining elements:
-those elements associated with the historic integrity of the property, including the regular massing and rectangular form, gable roof, central entrance, clapboard siding, the pattern of window openings, the interior classroom space, and the wood flooring and mouldings;
-those elements associated with its status as a former education facility in the community, including its location within the municipal boundaries.