On this day in 1930, plans were underway to transform Victoria High School.
The original schoolhouse opened in 1911. It was one of several schools built during the period to serve the city's booming population. It was also the city's first dedicated high school, and as such was given a creative name — Edmonton High School. The school cost about $150,000 at the time and was designed by architect Ronald Lines, known for several other buildings in the city including Strathcona School and the Union Bank. Two years later, the school was renamed Victoria High School in honour of Victoria, who was then queen.
In the 1920s, the principal of Victoria High School began pushing the province to turn the facility into a composite high school — a then-new education concept to offer a combination of academic, technical, and vocational training in one building. As part of the plan, the City of Edmonton designed a $600,000 expansion of the overcrowded school.
However, it took almost two decades for construction to start. The 1930s saw economic contraction that meant a shortage of funding for construction, and the Second World War during the 1940s meant a shortage of steel. The first wing of the school expansion didn't open until 1949, with another phase opening two years later.
In addition to classrooms, the newly expanded school offered woodworking facilities, industrial workshops, food labs, a swimming pool, and more. High school students walked its halls during the day, while classes for adults were held in the evenings. The original 1911 building was demolished in the mid-1960s.
Enrollment numbers at Victoria High School steadily declined over the next couple of decades. It mainly served as a vocational high school as well as an adult education centre. In 1985, Victoria High School saw another transformation — this time into an arts-focused high school, a project of then-principal Bob Maskell. It was renamed as Victoria School of Performing and Visual Arts.
The school eventually added junior high and elementary school programs, and now houses students from kindergarten to the Grade 12.
In 2007, part of the school was destroyed by arson, which caused $3 million in damages. That same year, major renovations were started to update some of the facilities that remained from the original 1949 expansion.
More than a century after it became Edmonton's first high school, the institution known to many as "Vic" now has a reputation as one of the best art-focused schools in the country. Like other schools in the city, "Vic" is preparing for the start of a new school year. This fall will see the addition of students from Jasper, as the Edmonton Public School Board has offered space to students who have been displaced by the wildfires that destroyed parts of Jasper this summer.
This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.