Jarvis Collegiate Institute

History

Jarvis Collegiate was founded as a private school in 1797 by William Cooper (1761-1840) but closed in 1801 when Cooper changed his occupation. In 1807 the government of Ontario, then known as the British colony of Upper Canada, took over the school and incorporated it in a network of eight new, public grammar schools (secondary schools), one for each of the eight districts of Upper Canada. Of the eight were four key schools:

Eastern Grammar School or Cornwall Grammar School c. 1806 was located in Cornwall, Ontario

Western Grammar School c. 1854 or J. C. Patterson Collegiate Institute was located in Windsor, Ontario; school closed in 1973

Home District Grammar School in Toronto - Jarvis was the grammar school for the Home District, an area covering much of the modern GTA. Its first name was the Home District Grammar School.

Midland Grammar Schools or Kingston Grammar School c. 1792 then as Midland Grammar School 1807 in Kingston, Ontario

These were the early days of Toronto, when the first parliament buildings were established and the first church and jail were constructed. In fact, it was only fourteen years earlier that Governor John Graves Simcoe arrived at the location on Lake Ontario, home to Mississauga communities and site of important Indigenous trade routes, to lay out the design of the new town he named York.

After the early period 1807-1811, enrolment started at five, rose to twenty, then fell to four - the school gained momentum in 1812 when the redoubtable John Strachan took over as headmaster. In 1839, Strachan became the first Anglican bishop of Toronto, living grandly in a home known as the "Palace" and signing his name (following the "first name / diocese" format customary for Anglican bishops) "John Toronto". He also founded Trinity College.

The original 1807 school building was a shed attached to the headmaster's house. Strachan raised funds for a new two-storey building, completed in 1816 on College Square, a 6-acre (24,000 m2) lot north of St. James' Cathedral, bounded by Richmond, Adelaide, Church and Jarvis Streets. In 1825 the school was renamed the Royal Grammar School. Later the name was changed to Toronto High School. In 1829 it moved to the corner of Jarvis and Lombard Streets. When Upper Canada College was founded in 1829 it shared a building with the Grammar School and for several years the two organizations were essentially unified. UCC eventually moved to its own facilities.

By 1864, the three rooms of the schoolhouse were inadequate for the 150 students, so a new building was constructed on Dalhousie Street, just north of Gould Street, near present-day Toronto Metropolitan University. This was also the year of the founding of the Toronto Grammar School Mental Improvement Society, the predecessor to all school clubs. Later known in schools as "the Lit," the club was a literary and debating society. Originally exclusively for boys, the club began admitting girls in 1893. It was also around this time that the first debates between schools were held in Toronto, the competing schools being Parkdale Collegiate Institute and Harbord Collegiate Institute. In the following decade, once again growing enrolment necessitated a new building. As the school underwent construction between 1870 and 1871, classes were held in a vacant insane asylum at Queen's Park, where the east wing of the legislative buildings are located today.

In 1871 the new building opened at 361 Jarvis Street, just south of College Street, directly in front of Allan Gardens. In 1889, the annexation of Parkdale brought a second high school (Parkdale Collegiate Institute) to the board, precipitating yet another name change from Toronto High School to Jarvis Street High School. The school was given its current name, Jarvis Collegiate Institute, in 1890. In 1924 it moved to its current Collegiate Gothic building designed by architect Charles Edmund Cyril Dyson.

From 1928 to 1930, Toronto artist George Agnew Reid painted an ambitious multi-wall mural in the school with the help of his student Lorna Claire. The piece, honouring the staff and students killed on active duty in WWI, has never been covered or removed.

Jarvis Collegiate celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2007.

In the media

The 2013 remake of Stephen King's novel, Carrie, was filmed at Jarvis Collegiate Institute as well as Northern Secondary School.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002 film) Exterior shots of the building were filmed at Jarvis Collegiate Institute.

Notable alumni

Torquil Campbell - member of the band Stars

Amy Millan - member of the band Stars

David Common - CBC news correspondent

Nicole Stoffman - actress and jazz singer

Olivia Chow - Mayor of Toronto (2023–present), former Member of Parliament and City Councillor

Rebecca M. Church (d. 1945), president, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire

Conn Smythe 1910–1912 - won Stanley Cup 7 times, owner of Toronto Maple Leafs, built Maple Leaf Gardens

Hector Charlesworth, 1880s - first chairman of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Corporation

J. Miles Dale, 1970s - film producer

Henry Lumley Drayton, 1880s - Minister of Finance, 1919–1921

Sir Lyman Duff - Chief Justice of Canada 1933 - knighted

William Finlayson - Ontario Minister of Lands and forests, 1930s

Bertha Harmer, grad. 1901 - Textbook of the Principles and Practices of Nursing, standard text in hospitals across North America, translated into several language; organized Yale University's School of Nursing; director of McGill School for Graduate Nurses

George Stewart Henry - Premier of Ontario 1930–34

W. A. Hewitt – Canadian sports executive and journalist, inductee into the Hockey Hall of Fame

Notable staff

John Strachan - significant figure in Family Compact, headmaster of Jarvis 1812–1823, founder of University of Toronto in 1827 when he secured a charter for King's College, first Bishop of Toronto 1836