I am writing this article comfortably seated in my home which was built in 1940 by Leonard Gain, the then local contractor. He inhabited it till his death with his wife wife Minnie – née Clifford – who he married in 1936 in Shrewsbury.
And Minnie was the last of the 27 teachers of the Dunany School which closed in 1948. She had been teaching there from 1943. We also inherited her teacher pointer stick which we have preserved.
How about that!
The school which sat on what is now the Dunany Country Club parking lot across the road from the starter shack closed when transportation to Lachute became available for the pupils.
Interestingly, on the left side of the entrance to the parking lot, are the remains of a tree which was planted for the coronation of King George 6th (May 12 1937) by Tolbert Gauley, a student of the school at that time.,
The story of Dunany School District No 1, as it was officially called, is really well narrated in Eleanor Hammond book : A History of Dunany. You can download the chapter about the school here if you wish to read more about it.
The following picture, extracted from Mrs Hammond’s book, is that of the 14 students who attended the school in 1923.
Students in 1923
Back Row: Clarence Matthews and Albert Gain
Third Row: Janet Morrison, Marion MacVicar, Bessie Morrison
Second Row: Ethel Morrison Hilda Woods, Violet Woods, Evelyn Gain,
Violet Gain. Alice Gain is in front of Violet.
Front Row: Angus MacDougall, Chester Gain, Dorothy Woods.
In the thirties, part of the funding for the school was through a head tax : 40 cents for district 1 residents, 75 cents for outsiders.
I learned that going through the records of the school which were duly copied by Dorothy Gauley before they were transferred to Lachute. I had the pleasure to meet her and she kindly loaned them to me Thank you Dorothy.
I have extracted this interesting page which she duly copied for posterity. Enjoy reading the short assessments of the school of inspector J.W. McOuat.
You may have noticed that the Register’s heading puts the Dunany School District One in the Municipality of Dunany. A municipality it was not to be.
As I understand it, the Dunany area did not meet the basic criteria to become a municipality such as area of territory, taxable real estate and population as defined in a letter of 1964 from the then minister of Municipal Affairs, Pierre Laporte.
I hope you enjoy reading bout the piece of the history of Dunany. If you have been here for decades, you may recognize some names. If you are a recent immigrants like us – we have only been here for 27 years – you will hopefully feel more rooted to our wonderful community.
So Interesting with all of these names still around through continued lineage in the area and the many roads and streets bearing some of these family names
Jacques, thanks so much for doing this story! My husband, Dennis, went to school in Brownsburg until grade 3. Marion MacVicar Connelly was his grade 1 teacher and until reading this we had no idea she had attended the school in Dunany. It’s good to know about these connections so I appreciate you taking the time to send out these messages.
Thank you for sharing this, Jacques. When I read about Dunany history, I also feel like a newcomer. It’s been only 52 years for me.
So glad that you continue to entertain us with wonderful Dunany History. And it says a lot about the community that many families are still around. ❤️. Only 70 years for us!
Thank for a lovely story. deep history around these parts.
I guess the Crooks’/Woods families date way back, George went to school there until he was transported to Lachute. And the little sweet girl in the picture, Dorothy Woods, is George’s mom. Thanks Jacques for lovely memories.
As an Anglican Priest in the diocese of Montreal I was priest for Dunany, Louisa, Gore, in the seventies, and still occasionally am asked to do some services at St. Paul’s even though we are retired. We have stayed in touch with Dunany and many of its people.
I remember Minnie Gain, Clarence Neil , the Mac Crackens and other people you mentioned in your article, but did not know about the school. Thank you for writing about it and for the photos. It was very interesting and fills in some gaps of local history for us all.
Our daughters Nathalie and Andrea attended services at St Paul’s in the evening in the 70’s and enjoyed going to Lowes Ice cream parlour in Lachute afterwards for a treat! Peter and Frieda Prosser
Eleanor’s book records that in 1919, Doris Campbell was the school teacher. Doris was my mother, Betty Gordon’s first cousin. Over a hundred years later in 2023, Ken Campbell, a Campbell descendant joined the Dunany golf club.This again says so much about the community. Thank you, Jacques, and to Eleanor Hammond, and Dorothy Gauley for the history of the school.
Last summer, I walked through the path that cuts the corner of Dunany and MacDougall Roads. It struck me that my mother (Florence Morrison, now 90) walked along the same path on her way to and from school. I have sent your story to her younger brother and will read it to her on my next visit. Thank you.