A Brief History of Chilliwack High School
by Agatha Klassen

The first High School in Chilliwack was unofficially organized in the second storey of a department store at Five Corners in downtown Chilliwack. The Chilliwack High School was officially organized on August 24, 1903 with 25 students enrolled. Dr. D. G. Little of Vancouver was principal and teacher. The first school was held in a house on Mill Street, later the site of the home of Dr. Robert McCaffrey.

In 1904, with the aid of the Department of Education, Chilliwack built a two-room high school which later became the Central School Annex. This structure was torn down in 1950. Chilliwack High School was the eighth high school in the province, and it had an enrollment of 32.

In 1906, Mr. Morrison joined Dr. Little and the following year Dr. Fraser joined the staff.

Plans were laid in 1911 for a new school capable of handling 200 students and the following year the "brick building" of Chilliwack High School on the south side of Yale Road was officially opened. Originally, there was also a stable on the south-east corner of the soccer field for students' horses.

The years following World War I were spent in collecting funds for a new gymnasium which was completed in 1929.

The basement of the brick building was used for elementary classes during 1926-27. During 1935 to 1938, grade IX moved to Central School.

With increased enrollment, in 1938 a new high school building was constructed adjacent to the brick building, and in 1940 the gymnasium was altered to a two-storey construction.

After a fire in 1944 partially destroyed the Chilliwack Junior-Senior High School, the school was reconstructed. Fire again struck in 1949, this time destroying the metal shop housed in a separate building. When this shop was reconstructed it was built on the west end of the school.

The year 1950 witnessed the completion of the new Chilliwack Senior High School. Grades 7 and 8 remained in the older structure and became known as the Chilliwack Junior High School, while grades 9 and above moved to the new building to the north across Yale Road. It was not however, until the spring of 1952 that, with the completion of the Senior High School gymnasium that the new building was officially opened.

In 1912 Chilliwack High School's brick building was constructed on the southeast corner of Yale and Charles Streets.

It was a distinguished building of grey and pink brick with a trapezoidal roof sloping at the edges to a high flat top. The major part of the exterior was grey relieved by pink borders under and between the windows. Centering the roof over the main entrance was a raised, bell-shaped decoration of deeper pink. The same design was repeated at either end of the roof.

The 1912 school was a two-storey structure complete with basement. There were eight classrooms, a principal's office, and separate staffrooms for men and women. The principal's office was on the first floor near the front doors. The men's staffroom was across the hall. The ladies' staffroom was upstairs. Students' washrooms, the furnace room, etc. were in the basement.

At the back of the classrooms were full length cloakrooms with clothes hooks for coats. There were also shelves for lunches and extra books.

Desks lined the walls of the upstairs halls. These served as "study carrels" and it was also a "social centre" for students at times. Since there was no gymnasium or auditorium, the school halls were used for club meetings and social activities.

In 1922 the Literary Society read the first had-written copies of the Tatler to students assembled in the upstairs hall. The 1925 graduation banquet was held in the lower hall.

Grounds
The brick building enjoyed a beautiful setting. There was a large front lawn surrounded by a boxwood hedge and at the western edge of the building (nearest town) a tennis court. On the street in front of the double front doors stood two squared pillars of pink and grey. A cast-iron gate joined the posts.

Corner Stone
The corner stone of the building was placed by the premier of B.C., Honourable Richard McBride, September 4, 1912.

The plaque was set into the building at the front west corner by the basement windows.

The plaque was eroded over the years and eventually obliterated, perhaps by an over-zealous workman at the time when the significance of historic buildings had less meaning. However, it is believed the stone's inscription read something like this:

Chilliwack High School
1912
Placed by Hon. Richard McBride

Chilliwack Progress, May 28, 1913

New High School is now Opened

After almost ten months from the time of beginning construction the teachers and pupils of the Chilliwack High School were able to exchange their old building for their brand new one. The march past of the teachers and their pupils was made on Wednesday and a proud, satisfied bunch they were too. And well they might be. If a substantially constructed, fire-proof, modernly equipped building, situated in beautiful surroundings can make teachers and pupils proud, the new High School of Chilliwack has all qualifications for it. This new structure occupies a strategical as well as a commanding position on the corner of Charles Street and Westminster Avenue. It is situated on the corner of a beautiful three and one-half acre block of the old Henry Kipp Property. In the streets angle a grove of beautiful cherry trees which furnish shade for the hot days and at the same time bears the most luscious of fruits in their season.

Chilliwack Progress, July 23, 1914

Remarkable Record Made by Chilliwack High School

Newspaper Article Courtesy of Esther Harder

The Chilliwack High School Newspaper
The Tatler
Founded in 1922

The first paper produced in CHS was the Tatler. It was handwritten in ink on several pieces of foolscap held together by a metal paper fastener.

It would have been difficult to provide copies for all the students, so everyone assembled in the upper hall of the brick building for a meeting of the Literary Society.

The Tattler was then read aloud. It included poems, essays and news and views of the school.

In about 1922, Miss Jean MacNaughton came to Chilliwack to teach English. It is believed that Miss MacNaughton was associated with the first edition of the paper.

Unfortunately, copies of these handwritten Tatlers were inadvertently lost in about 1948.

By 1927, mimeographed copies of the Tatler were published and sold to the students and the public for 5 cents a copy.

    The Origin of the Name "Tatler"    

The "Tatler" was a periodical produced in England from 1709-1711 by Sir Richard Steele.  The politician and author Joseph Addison also contributed to the Tatler.  He was a very patriotic individual who wrote a poem on the Battle of Blenheim.  His essays were intended to improve manners and morals, and to develop an interest in Culture and Literature.  He also wanted to make Science and Philosophy more popular.  He wrote with wit and charm.  Cartoons of representative English characters were used in one paper.  All in all, The Tatler seems to have been an excellent choice for the name of the first school paper in Chilliwack.

FAREWELL : CLASS ' 24

I hate to see you go !
Ends our three years together thus ?
Must all be summed up so?
But to be swept away from us?
I hate to see you go !

I hoped you would not go —
And sought with bonds of joy to bind,
Or make the wheel of time turn slow;
A vain desire of selfish mind,
For you, of course, must go.

If, then, I let you go,
Remember me in years to come;
; And in the hours when memories glow.
Look back and love me some —
And so I'll let you go.

And thus I let you go.
the river of life gleams brightly on;
Up towards its source thy shallop row;
Onward to fight with friend ' gainst foe —
And thus I let you go.

                                 D. K. Davies