There’s another option for new school’s name

“Shining Waters School” works well as a name acknowledging First Nations. If one alternatively looks to the settlement that created a school in the first place, an appropriate choice of community name could surely be to renew “Ashburnham School.”

“Ashburnham” relates to the three generations of the Burnham family who established the village on the east bank of the Otonabee river opposite Peterborough. From its incorporation in 1858 until being absorbed by Peterborough in 1904, the village name was legally “Ashburnham.” The handsome brick school built circa 1863 on Mark Steet at Robinson was called the Ashburnham School.

The east part of the new school is being built in Ashburnham Memorial Park. At the bottom of the hill to the east is Ashburnham Drive. Below to the west is the community gathering place, the Ashburnham Alehouse. Across the street from that is a new development to be built by Ashburnham Realty. “Ashburnham” is a real name that still has legal status to residents of “Ashburnham Ward,” as well as ongoing community and heritage relevance.

The banal “East City” nomenclature is not a community name. It has been around for decades, likely an attribution created by insensitive residents of West City or South City.

Esteemed local historians Alicia Perry and Martha Kidd thought the East City name such an affront it should simply not be spoken. A noxious weed creeping in to Ashburnham’s fine gardens.

Ken Brown, Ashburnham