Schools

Keith’s career path was closely aligned to the post-war period of sustained community growth in the 1950s. This phase saw businesses grow, more people moving from rural areas to the city, young couples were having families and subdivisions were appearing in areas surrounding Charlottetown and Summerside. These circumstances created a need for new or larger schools and churches in local neighbourhoods. There was always a concern regarding costs with people not wanting to go deeply into debt and the financial struggles of raising families. The buildings were modest but functional; often built with the idea that a portion of the interior would be completed at a later date or there would be a future expansion.

Schools

1956 Parkdale - Spring Park - Central Royalty (Sherwood)

The late 1940s to 1950s was a period of growth and transformation for the districts surrounding Charlottetown, as the farming communities experienced a number of properties being sold for new streets, with the promise of subdivisions on the horizon. This shift saw people moving from rural areas to be closer to the city, where young families were building homes. Suddenly, the schools in Parkdale, Spring Park and Central Royalty (Sherwood) had overflowing classrooms and the districts needed new buildings. Keith was asked to design each of these three schools.

Keith’s first school in the Charlottetown area was designed for the Board of Trustees in Parkdale in the summer of 1956. Their building on Linden Avenue was so overcrowded that the trustees rented the living room of Mrs. Bradley’s house on Hawthorne Avenue and used this space for a classroom when Rowena Hickox Stinson was in grade one. The announcement of a new eight-room school to be built on Confederation Street at an estimated cost of $80,000 was front page news for The Guardian on May 19, 1956.

Keith met with the trustees, building committee and Commissioners of Parkdale on a number of occasions to discuss their needs and review his working drawings. At the office, Keith’s draftsman Gordon C. Welsh prepared ten sheets of plans for the school which could accommodate 240 students. The tenders were called in July, and the contract was awarded to M. F. Schurman Company. Initially, students in grades 6 to 10 attended the new school and the younger children remained at the Linden Avenue location. Gradually the older students moved to intermediate and high schools and Parkdale became an elementary school in the late 1970s.

In addition to housing students, Parkdale School’s 1957 completion also benefited the community by providing new meeting facilities for the district. Both adults and youth now had a place to gather for Village meetings, bazaars, community school, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides, indoor floor hockey and other sports. The stage and open area in the basement then became the venue for school concerts and closings, as well as Home and School meetings. Much later in the 1980s and 1990s, even Keith and Jean would attend such heart-warming events to watch their grandchildren perform. Although Keith sat quietly, surely his eyes would be assessing all the structural details — the corners of the ceiling, window frames and joints.

Also in 1956, began the planning for new schools for both Spring Park and Central Royalty (Sherwood) districts. The Spring Park plans were also drawn by Gordon C. Welsh and M. F. Schurman Company was the contractor for the building on Dunkirk Avenue. When the school was officially opened on January 6, 1958, eight classrooms on the main floor could accommodate approximately 250 students. Each class had a cloakroom for students’ coats, and blackboards for busy teachers that extended almost the full length of the front and side walls. In the basement a large double room was used for music and physical education. The remaining space, to be finished at a later date, would become the auditorium and home economics room.

Compared to the wooden frames of the old schools built in the early 1900s, the Parkdale and Spring Park schools were built with its more modern counterparts of steel, concrete and brick and construction work became increasingly complex. The wide expanses of windows let more sun in, made the rooms much brighter and gave the buildings a clean, airy appearance. The Department of Education beamed with pride, and in its annual report for the year ending March 31, 1957, described the schools as “among the most modern in the province”. The people in the districts could be very proud of their new buildings.

Sources: The Guardian, May 19, 1956; June 27, 1956; January 6, 1958 https://edu.princeedwardisland.ca/parkdale/; www.peildo.ca/journals

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1959-1965 Regional High Schools

The need to upgrade and modernize the education system on PEI, and Premier Walter Shaw’s government was ready to address this. Between 1960 and 1965, fourteen regional high schools were opened and Keith’s team designed and drafted plans for Tignish, Alberton, O’Leary, Evangeline (Abram’s Village), Athena (Summerside), Kensington, Englewood (Crapaud), Central Queens (Hunter River), and Montague.

To inspect progress on the buildings and deal with ongoing issues, Keith’s staff had to travel from one end of the Island to the other. As with all projects on PEI, there were delays in the delivery of steel, and the rush to complete as much of the project as possible before winter arrived. Each new school’s opening was seen as a milestone for the area and a major opportunity for its youth. These new facilities gave young people access to education, which was a huge step toward further studies or access to the trades. In her book about the M.F. Schurman Company, author Margaret M. MacFarlane wrote, “The high school development program changed the construction landscape” (p138).

Elm Street School, Summerside

In Summerside, a second elementary school was built on Elm Street in the western part of town. Students will remember the visit of Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker on December 6th, 1961 when he officially opened the new school and declared it a school holiday. In his remarks, the Prime Minister challenged the students when he said “Many of you will make your contribution to the building of a great Canada''. Without knowing it, Keith Pickard was also setting his stamp on the future educational facilities of PEI.

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The largest school project for Keith and his team was the Prince County Vocational School located on Upper Granville Street in Summerside. On September 26, 1961, The Journal Pioneer featured the architect’s drawing of the building on the front page. To celebrate the occasion, the Minister of Labor for Canada, Hon. Michael Starr, was invited to perform the ceremonious “Turning of the Sod,” which marked the start of construction of the building.

This vocational school was no small project. Drafted by Jim Lee, the school was designed with an academic wing and a trades training wing joined in the center by the administration and auditorium wing. After the construction began, however, work was delayed by the arrival of steel, followed by severe weather conditions during the winter months. When the building was officially opened by Premier Walter R. Shaw on December 6, 1962, The Journal-Pioneer reported “one of the most modern education institutions in the Atlantic provinces”. Classes included drafting, business, carpentry, electronics, welding, home economics, auto body, sheet metal and plumbing. The vocational school would continue to train young professionals in the area for decades to come.

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Prince Street and West Kent Schools, Charlottetown, 1961-62

Keith’s team also continued to design schools for elementary students. In 1961, plans for two new Charlottetown schools, Prince Street and West Kent, were on the drawing board. To meet his growing workload, Keith advertised in The Canadian Architect for a second architect for the firm. James W.H. Murdoch applied and Keith gladly helped him get settled on Prince Edward Island. Murdoch immediately set to work on what would soon become —West Kent School.

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Premier Shaw’s government, 1959 to 1966, continued its mandate to prioritize education and the outlying areas were not overlooked. Keith’s office designed two-room school houses, or extensions, for West Royalty, St. Eleanor’s, Stanhope, Richmond, Marshfield and Montague. The children of rural Prince Edward Island would not be left behind.

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Sources: The Guardian November 30, 1955, September 11, 1956, November 10, 1960, April 28, 1961, December 7, 1961; The Journal­­-Pioneer September 26, 1961, December 6, 1962; The M.F. Schurman Company Limited, Margaret M. MacFarlane; A Party for Progress: The P.E.I. Progressive Conservative Party 1770-2000, Leonard Cusack, 2013; Stanhope Sands of Time.

1966-67 Consolidated Schools