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Frontenac County Schools Museum

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Frontenac County Schools Museum

The Schools Museum provides an authentic 1890s schoolroom experience and has a wide variety of artifacts on display, with activities for all ages.

The Frontenac County Schools Museum began as a project to celebrate Kingston's Tercentenary in 1973. A small group of retired educators spent many hours researching and photographing schools and school sites, collecting books and artefacts, and microfilming hundreds of school records. In 1977 the Museum Association was formally established, and by late 1979, the museum was ready to be unveiled to the public. In 1993, the museum re-opened in a new site at Robert Meek Public School. However, when RMPS closed, the museum was forced to pack up for a few years before coming to its current home in Barriefield in 2005.

10/09/2026

School Spotlight

The Princess Street School opened in 1855 and was one of the earliest schools in Kingston. Like many of the schools at the time, it was not built or owned by the Kingston Common School Board. The building was originally the Temperance Hall and rent was paid to the Sons of Temperance. The building also housed the Kingston Common School Board Library, which supplied books to all of the City schools. The school only operated until 1868 when it was replaced by Cataraqui School. Today, the building is an antique emporium.

10/07/2026

Archival Excerpt

This is a tender to repair books submitted by Thomas McAuley to the Kingston Common School Board. Textbooks were expensive to purchase. Therefore, books were more often repaired than replaced.

10/05/2026

Chalkboard Champion

Colin Drever
Building on last week’s architecture theme, today we look at Colin Drever, a well-known mainly 20th Century school architect. Drever’s portfolio includes Rideau School, the Technical Wing expansion of KCVI and expansion to Louise School in 1931-32, Winston Churchill P.S. The Museum contains many of these architectural records

10/02/2026

School Spotlight

Wellington Street School

The original Wellington Street School opened in January of 1862, it was in this building that the first Night School in Kingston took place, which was replaced by a stone school in 1873. The school was located on 47 Wellington Street, and was designed by John Power, with tenders for the school totalling $7200. Wm. Irving & Son fulfilled the carpentry tender and Richard Tossell was the stone mason. Wellington Street School opened in the fall of 1874, with W.G. Kidd as principal, and James Metcalfe as the assistant principal. From 1877-1887 the school was used as the Kingston Model School until it was transferred to Central School. Wellington Street School was renamed Sydenham School on 13 September 1900, and operated until its closure in 1926, where students were likely transferred to Louise School. The building was used for many years following the closure of the school. The Kingston Badminton Club used the building from the late 1920s until 1943, after which it was taken over by the HMCS Cataraqui to be used as a training centre during WWII. Following the war, Queen’s University leased the building for use by the engineering department. They added a full hydraulics lab and used the former school until 1967. The building remained until it was turned into apartments in the early 1980s.

09/30/2026

Archival Excerpt

This 1875 Inspector’s Report details some of the educational challenges in Kingston. Older classes are near overpopulated, and attendance is very irregular. These problems would be common throughout Ontario at the time.

09/29/2026

The FCSM offers both full-day and half-day programming for elementary schools. Learn what it was like to attend a one-room school throughout our “One-Room School Experience’ and a host of other programs. Contact us at [email protected] or by phone at 613-544-9113 for more information!

09/28/2026

Chalkboard Champion
John Power

John Power is one of Kingston’s most well-known architects. Among his achievements are many Kingston schools. His resume includes the design of Gordon Street, Cataraqui, Depot, Frontenac, Sydenham High, S.S. No.8 Kingston, Wellington Street, Williamsville, and St. John’s Schools. These schools were all built over a period of roughly ten years.

09/25/2026

In the early 1900s, there came a need for a new school in the districts of North of Princess and west of Barrie due to population growth. The land for the school was purchased in 1911, on the south side of Colborne Street and just west of Division Street. The cornerstone of the school was laid in September 1911, the contract per tender for the construction of the school was $11,460 and was approved and paid 17 October 1912. The architect for the school was Colin Drever, who designed many buildings and other schools in Kingston. At the time of the school’s opening there were 8 teachers employed and the school was able to accommodate 350-400 pupils. There were heating systems added to the assembly room in 1922. On the morning of 12 October 1940 a fire broke out in the stairwell of the schools, causing the roof to cave in and the destruction of the school. Students were temporarily moved to Central School, where classes were staggered to accommodate the students from both schools. The total cost to repair the school was $47,728.00, and the school successfully reopened in September of 1941. In 1957, the basement was converted to a physical training room. PA (Public Address) systems were added to the school in 1965, and an addition to the school was built in 1966 for $30,003.15. The school closed in 1985, and the building is still standing on Colborne Street just west of Division Street.

09/23/2026

This is the third letter in a series of correspondence between Minnie Hunter and the Kingston Common School Board Trustees. The letter contains Hunter’s response to William Armstrong’s previous letter and expressed and annoyed with the tone of the previous letter. She states that she was originally told she would not be teaching past Christmas, which she says she was not content with those terms. She believes the Board inferred she could not manage the school and if that were to be true, finds it unfair for her placement at the Johnson Street School. She ends her letter by apologising for the misunderstanding as well as complaining about the ungentlemanly behaviour of the trustees.

09/18/2026

Originally established in 1841 by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame under the order of Bishop Macdonnell, first incumbent of the Bishopric of Kingston or Regiopolis. After the death of Bishop Macdonnell in 1840, he left his episcopal dwelling (on the south-east corner of Johnson/Bagot Streets) to the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame under the condition they open a school in Kingston. The school officially opened on 25 November 1841, with 11 students in attendance. Due to issues gaining access to the building left to them by Bishop Macdonnell, the school occupied a room on the upper floors of an office building. The sisters found the location to be noisy and distracting, so they temporarily moved to a house on King Street in 1842. The Nuns’ School began hosting classes in the episcopal residence left to them by Bishop Macdonnell in 1843, and it was used in tandem with the King Street location. In 1859, St. Joseph’s (Kingston’s first Roman Catholic Church) was converted into a school and placed under the care of the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame. The building was then allegedly condemned in 1891 and the cornerstone of a new school was laid by Archbishop Cleary and was named St. Vincent’s.

Address

414 Regent Street, Barriefield
Kingston, ON
K7K5R1

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

+16135449113

Website

http://www.fcsmuseum.com/

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