Pictou County Postcards
Vintage Postcards from Pictou County, Nova Scotia

This postcard is a bit smaller than usual, and has glitter outlining the edges of the school. This school is located on the western end of Temperance Street (this section was known at the time as Friend Street) and was built in 1882 to house both elementary and high school students. It became a high school in 1892 when older students were transferred there from the White School. the school is now used as an elementary school and has large modern wings extended on either side.

The original photo came from the Waldren Studios, but it is possible that the actual photographer could have been either A.H. Rice or Waldren. This school opened in 1882 and the photo could have been taken sometime after that, judging from the clothing on the people and fact that the tree in the foreground was still quite young. Waldren bought out the Rice Studio and acquired their extensive collection of glass negatives in the 1890s. My dad notes in An Edwardian Walking Tour of New Glasgow, that Waldren's "collection of 25,000 negatives from the Victorian era gave him the edge in supplying illustrations for histories, booklets and in providing archival material for the use of local newspapers".

This card was mailed to Mrs. Maude B. Perry, #1324 Waveland Ave, Chicago, Ill.

This card was not postally used but can be dated to 1914, the year the school was completed. The building appears to be new and there is no grass, just roughly graded large gravel surrounding it. Unfortunately this beautiful building was not looked after and fell into rough shape in less than a century. It was abandoned and a spectacular fire destroyed it completely in 2006.