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At College Hill United Church, 16 North Park Street, the original site of the college, Belleville
Commemoration
In 1854, the Methodist Episcopal Church, recognizing the need to improve the training of its clergy, began the construction of a seminary on this site. Designed to accommodate 150 residents with classroom facilities for 400 students, Belleville Seminary was opened in July 1857. Under the able direction of its principal, Albert Carman, the school flourished, producing several eminent graduates. In 1866, it was rechartered as Albert College, an affiliate of the University of Toronto, and five years later it became an independent degree-granting institution. When Victoria College in Cobourg was chosen as official university for the newly-formed Methodist Church in 1884, Albert College became a private collegiate. Moved in 1926 to the present location overlooking the Bay of Quinte, it remains a distinguished residential school.
Background
This is the oldest co-educational boarding school in Canada. The name Albert was in honour of Prince Albert, husband and consort of Queen Victoria. It can house 150 residents and has classrooms for 400 students. In 1917, fire badly damaged the building. The rebuilt school reopened in 1926.
While today we think of Residential Schools as something that was inflicted upon indigenous people in Canada, they were the common means to advance education before the Second World War in Canada and throughout the English-speaking world. They are still in use today in England.
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