Listowel District Secondary School
155 Maitland Ave. S.
Listowel, ON
N4W 2M4
Phone: (519) 291-1880
Secondary education has existed in Listowel for over 125 years! The first secondary education took place in 1873. The school classes were held in the first public school building and were directed by Mr. and Mrs. Fergus Black. This was in a frame building beside the present Listowel Library. At this time, many communities were starting to realize the value of a proper education and the need for a proper building, so committees were organized to look into the situation.
The Listowel High School Board was formed around 1872 and a proper school was considered. Mr. Thomas McDowell approached the village council with an offer to sell 10 acres of land for $100. The town accepted and purchased the land for a school lot. After this nothing was done about a new school for a few years
In the fall of 1878, a construction committee was created and Mr. Sheards of Toronto was hired to design the building and draw plans. Construction of Listowel High School began in early June 1879. During construction, high school classes were held in either the old frame building or the new Central Public School.
The new school building was completed and used for classes sometime in the spring of 1880. The new building had three stories and five rooms. Because of an increase of students in 1909, a partition was built for only fifty-six dollars. In 1913, more students caused another shortage of space but and addition was not built until 1919. The school now had 12 classrooms
In 1940, people were becoming dissatisfied with that the school did not have proper modern facilities. After four years the school board decided that a new school was needed. Plans included nine of ten classrooms, laboratory, agriculture room, a five hundred-seat auditorium, shop, home economics, gymnasium, tennis courts, cloakrooms, teacher staff rooms, business machines and a shooting gallery. B. R. Coon of Toronto was hired to start plans.
At the end of the 1947-48 Christmas holidays, disaster hit the old Listowel High School. On the Saturday before the start of school a fire broke out in the building. While repairs were being made, grade nine classes were held in church halls around the town. Luckily, the construction on the new school was moving ahead. By February 1949 the exterior was almost completed. Room for 400 students and 13 teachers were planned.
On Friday, June 28, 1948, the old Listowel High School was officially closed after 68 years of use. The following September the new Listowel High School was opened by Premier Leslie M. Frost. Along with the building, an agricultural building was also developed. To house the new tractor and livestock, a barn was built across Maitland Avenue from the school. The area behind the barn was used for crop production.
The school did not change until 1954 when the school needed more rooms. A four-classroom addition was built at a cost of $60 000. There were around 480 students attending at this time. In 1959, an increase to six hundred students again produced a lack of space. Another six rooms were added including a sewing room, shop area, science room and three classrooms.
In 1962 a Vocational Wing was built which included electrical, electronics, machine, woodworking and automotive shops, a gymnasium, science labs, a commercial wing with two stories, and a cafeteria. With these new additions, Listowel High School became Listowel District Secondary School. In 1967, more students forced the school to purchase two portables for electricity and drafting classes. Two others were purchased in January.
The final renovations were made in 1970-71. These included the main office, library and gymnasium. New sections were also added which included a double gymnasium, physics and biology labs, theatrical stage, two drafting rooms, woodworking and sheet metal shops and a commercial office. This conclusion leaves us with the present building of LDSS.
