Youngstown school history

By Joan Janzen

The history of Youngstown School has been preserved, thanks to the town’s history book “Youngstown Memories - Across the Years.” As far back as 1911, there was a two-room school located two miles north of the present town, after which a brick school was constructed in 1915.

Throughout the 1920s, the high school portion of the school had about two dozen students enrolled, while there were more than fifty students in elementary and middle school grades.

Photo (Youngstown Memories - Across the Years Volume II). Older students pose for a school photo on the steps of the old brick Youngstown school in approximately1928. The two-storey brick school was destroyed by fire in 1956.

By 1955, one hundred and thirty students filled the brick school. The two-storey building had six classrooms, housing grades 1-12. The staff included Principal Mr. Parker, and teachers J. Meehan, Mary Goodbrand, Eva Bamber and Alma Goodbrand.

A headline from a February 1956 Hanna Herald article read, “$75,000 Fire Razes Youngstown Building”. A fire started in the school at about 3:00 p.m., with the origin of the fire unknown. It totally destroyed the Youngstown school. Fortunately, all the children were quickly and successfully evacuated from the building.

During this time, classes were temporarily held in halls, churches and the library in Youngstown. Shortly afterward, blueprints were drawn up for a new school in the town to be ready in time for the new school year in the fall.

A new school was constructed, but sixteen years later, devastation struck. Once again a headline in the April 19, 1972 edition of the Hanna Herald read, “Explosion Rocks Youngstown School”. At that time, a massive gas explosion and fire began at 2:30 in the morning and wiped out seven classrooms, the library, teachers’ offices, staff workroom and the infirmary.

Eyewitnesses stated it was a complete ball of fire, which was believed to have been caused by a broken propane gas tank connection adjacent to the school. The gas also seeped across the schoolyard and was well on its way to houses across the street, but before it reached the houses, the explosion occurred. Firefighters from throughout the area were able to save the auditorium and elementary wing.

Interm classrooms were set up for the 175 students who were affected by the interruption. Grades 7-12 used temporary spaces within the school, while students in grades 1-6 were provided makeshift classrooms in facilities throughout the town.

The school was rebuilt, as it served students in Youngstown, and students bussed there as far as thirty miles away. It may appear ironic, but the next school memory recorded in the history book was from the 1986-87 school yearbook when the school was declared a smoke-free space. During that year, it was one of the first schools to be designated as a smoke-free school.