Essondale School

        For many years there were Grades 1-12 schools at Essondale, later Riverview hospital,  the hospital throughout the years also was home to many challenged children; and the staff who lived on the site had children of their own. The children of the staff and a few children who lived along the border of the grounds went to a small one-room school, located at the far western end of the property near the Lougheed Highway. The patients were schooled in various areas around the property,  and were further separated as to their specific educational needs.
I have only seen one photo of the "public" school and it was very grainy, I do not have a copy to share here.

       But I recently noticed the still  barely visible school in a two photographs of the Farm Cottage at Colony Farm.

Notice the light-coloured roof line near the fire hydrant on the left; that is Essondale School

 [ This is a small portion of a photo by: Stride Studios, 30 January 1930 Vancouver Archives A23166 ]

Provincial Mental Hospital - Farm Cottage - Essondale, B.C. - H.D. Crawford "Contractor"
The Stride Studios, New Westminster, B.C.  14 March, 1929     Vancouver Archives A23170

Essondale School is just above the fellow in lightly-coloured clothes, head.

If you went past the location today, you would have no idea that there was a school there, it is completely forested over, and a walk through the area would give you few clues that there was a school there.

Essondale School location marked in red.  this is a very small excerpt of a map of  Riverview Hospital/ Colony Farm created in the mid 1960's  ( Full sized MAP )

Site location today of Essondale School

Essondale School class photo 1950
Photo from the book: Riverview Hospital  A Legacy of Care & Compassion  (PDF)

“There was one classroom for Grades 1 to 12 at Essondale School. We’d go to the cannery at Colony Farm for field trips or our teacher would take us over to the Essondale grounds and get us to name the trees.”

Art Talbot;   Grew up at Essondale, 1940s and ‘50s


Very little information about the school can be found. In October 1916  Gilbert Mathewson, Dr. J.G. McKay and Gowan S. MacGowan were appointed school trustees for the next three, two and one years respectively.     I did see some letters about the founding of this school, the discussion went back and forth, about who was going to pay for it, the Mental Health branch or the local School Board, it appears that the Mental Health branch kept control of the building, since it is on Hospital property; and they billed the School board for the students that were NOT living on the property.  Originally the hospital wanted the school closer to the main hospital buildings, but the parents nearby wanted it nearer to the property boundary, because it was much quieter, and safer in their minds; this concession was met.  No idea when this school was closed, must be in the 60's, early 1970's when the Cape Horn Elementary was completed. 

Sadly the local school district 43 has done a terrible job of preserving their history.

UPDATE: found another aerial photo from 1947 that shows the school ( circled in red ) very well.