Discovering Kelowna’s Pine Grove School
I have long been interested in the history of a small rural school house that served the pioneer residents of what is now North Glenmore.
Although it operated for only three school years — from September 1908 to June 1911 — Pine Grove School played an important role in its community, providing the local children with a consistent, sound education.
I wrote a two-part article about Pine Grove School, which appeared in the Monday, August 22 and 29, 2011 editions of The Daily Courier.
Included with the August 22 article was a photograph of George Faulds Stirling (18771966); he taught at Pine Grove School for one year, 1908 – 1909, and was succeeded by Kelowna resident Miss Ruby M. Hunter.
George Stirling, a native of England, received the princely teacher’s salary of $60 per month, which was supplemented by the salary received by his wife, Edith, who taught at the Ellison School. George and Edith Stirling both served their students well.
Years later, George Stirling fondly recalled that his students at Pine Grove School had educated him about local flora and fauna, while their families generously provided the Stirlings with a steady supply of fresh meat, including game birds and venison.
Pine Grove School was located near the present-day McKinley Landing Road, west of the back road through Glenmore.
According to Greta Bower, who attended Pine Grove School in 1909 – 1910, her grandfather, David Bower, helped build Pine Grove School and its desks, using Ellison School as the template for the building and its contents.
The Bowers lived at Ellison, prior to moving to North Glenmore. While she attended Pine Grove School, Greta Bower lived with her grandparents.
Although I have discovered some good information about Pine Grove School — including the given and surnames of its teachers and students during its three years in operation — I did not have a photograph of the school building itself.
Several times during the past decade, I have inspected the site of Pine Grove School, becoming very familiar with its location and surrounding topography: set in a scrub pine forest at the base of a hill beside the McKinley Landing Road, west of Glenmore Road.
This past winter, I was looking through some vintage photographs at the Kelowna Public Archives.
Under the capable and patient guidance of Tara Hurley, Kelowna Public Archivist, I was checking photographs of various Kelowna and district schools, hoping to find a picture of a school located at Okanagan Mission.
While going through these images, I found a photograph of a small rural school house, its male teacher and ten students, lined up in front of the school building.
Set at the base of a hill covered with a scrub pine forest, the photograph was labelled as “Mission School.”
Realizing the obvious error in affixing this label, the identification was deliberately crossed out, leaving no name attached to the school building.
Restraining my excitement, I informed Tara that I was looking at what I believed to be a photograph of Pine Grove School. The school’s location — at the base of a hill, with scrub pine forest around it — fit the image in the picture.
The school house was the same style and perceived dimensions of Ellison School, after which Pine Grove School was modelled.
And finally, although the image of the teacher is not clear, the man bears a striking resemblance to George Faulds Stirling.
Tara and I examined the newly-discovered but mislabelled photograph, compared it to what we knew about Pine Grove School and, after careful deliberation and discussion, pronounced that the image in question was, in fact, Pine Grove School.
Since the teacher in the image is a man, we are confident that it was George Faulds Stirling and the year would have been 1908 – 1909, Pine Grove School’s first year of operation.
While confident in identifying the image as Pine Grove School, the teacher (George Faulds Stirling) and the year (1908-1909), we cannot be sure of the students’ identities.
Greta Bower is probably not one of the students in the picture, since she attended Pine Grove School in 1909 – 1910.
Pine Grove School’s 1908 – 1909 students may have included the following children:
Five of the children of John B. and Jane (nee Martin) McKinley, who lived at nearby McKinley Landing, to the west of Pine Grove School: Frederick McKinley, born 1895 George McKinley, born 1895 Molly McKinley, born 1898 Nellie Grace McKinley, born 1900 Henry Harold McKinley, born 1903 Two sons of Thomas and Eliza Jane “Lizette” (nee Christian) Simpson, who lived close to Pine Grove School: George Simpson, born 1898 Harvey Allen Simpson, born 1900 Two youngest daughters of Robert C. and Orpha E. (nee Randall) Ecclestone, who lived to the south of Pine Grove School, near the present-day Kelowna landfill site: Bessie Areta Ecclestone, born 1897 Amelia Jane Ecclestone, born 1900 It is, of course, possible that there were other children, not yet identified, who attended Pine Grove School in 1908 – 1909, and who are included in the photograph, as well as students who attended Pine Grove School in 1908 – 1909 but were not in that year’s school photograph.
I am delighted to finally have a photograph of Pine Grove School.
Instead of trying to picture the school in my mind, I now know what Pine Grove School looked like, its more precise location and have a picture of ten of its first students and their teacher, proudly lined up in front of their school.
I acknowledge and thank Tara Hurley, Kelowna Public Archivist, for her assistance and encouragement in writing this article, the third installment of the Pine Grove School’s brief but important history.
This article is part of a series, submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society.