Toronto in 1868 - The Normal & Model School for Upper Canada & Egerton Ryerson

This was originally posted on my Instagram on July 6th, 2021.

You can find me on Instagram @fiennesclinton

This is Octavius Thompson's photograph of "the Normal & Model Schools for Upper Canada."  This institution opened as a teachers' college at a time when the province was looking to "normalize" or standardize education.  The Normal School was where young adults aged 16 to 30 years old learned to become teachers.

By contrast, the two Model Schools on campus put whatever teachers-in-training had learned into practice. They taught classrooms full of real-life pupils between the ages of 3 & 16 years old. The Model Schools were meant to be “models” for all public schools in the province.

The campus took up over 7 acres bounded by Gerrard Street on the north, Gould Street to the south, Church Street in the east & Victoria Street to the west. The Normal School building was demolished between 1958 & 1963 & replaced by the Ryerson Institute’s Kerr Hall quadrangle building. The facade of the old school was preserved & today we know the campus as Ryerson University.

Illustration shows the surviving facade of the Normal School at Ryerson University.

Thompson devotes two whole pages to describing his unbridled enthusiasm for the school. One excerpt reads as follows.

“The Normal and Model Schools and Education Offices for Upper Canada - erected A.D. 1852 - are situated on the centre of an open square ... the situation is a very beautiful one, being considerably elevated above the business parts of the city, and commanding a fine view of the bay, peninsula and lake. The adjoining grounds are handsomely laid out, and are very attractive in Summer.”

In “Toronto in the Camera” Thompson relates how the school was first suggested in 1836 but didn’t really get underway until 1846 when Egerton Ryerson, who was Chief Superintendent of Education, published his “Report on a System of Public Elementary Instruction for Upper Canada”.

Illustration shows the statue of Egerton Ryerson outside the Normal & Model School in the 1890s.

Of course, Ryerson is a very controversial figure these days. He is considered a key influencer in developing Canada’s residential school system. The Department of Indian Affairs came to him for advice in 1847, just as he was opening the Normal & Model Schools here in Toronto. Ryerson argued that Indigenous children should be educated in separate boarding schools that were denominational, English-only, & oriented towards training for agriculture & industry.

Those who defend Ryerson point out the close relationship he had with Indigenous people. He lived with & taught amongst the Mississauga people at the Credit Mission. He learned their language, worked in the fields with the people of the settlement & became a close friend of future chief Kahkewaquonaby (Sacred Feathers), known in English as Peter Jones. The Mississauga adopted Ryerson & gave him the name of a recently deceased chief, “Cheechock” or “Chechalk”.

No doubt just about everyone has heard Ryerson’s name reappearing in headlines again recently. Whatever your own opinion of his culpability, this story proves that time spent studying history is never misspent.

History informs our present. When Octavius Thompson documented the Normal & Model Schools in 1867, did he ever dream that it would still be making history over 150 years later?

These images show protestors rallying Ryerson's statue, and dismantling it, in June of 2021.