History of the Feeder Schools for OCHS

I found this history of the feeder schools for Oshawa Catholic Highschool on some old documents from the Durham Region Roman Catholic School Board:

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Catholic schools in Ontario experienced serious economic challenges. Given the fragile nature of provincial funding and given the economic depression of the 1930s it is not surprising that only two Catholic schools built in the inter-war years, namely St. Bernard (Whitby) 1923 and Holy Cross (Oshawa) in 1938. There were no Catholic high schools built in Durham Region at all.

In the Toronto Archdiocese during World War II, a major fundraiser was required to keep existing Catholic high schools open. If it wasn’t for the dedicated religious orders such as the Basilian Fathers, the Christian Brothers, the St. Joseph Sisters and the Loretto Sisters who essentially ran the Catholic high schools at their own expense, the system might have disappeared. Wealthy Toronto Catholic businessmen, such as Senator Frank O’Connor (founder of Laura Secord Chocolates) were known to
contribute generously from their own funds to support Catholic education during this time. However, in Durham Region, which lacked a wealthy Catholic business community, Catholic high schools were not established until the 1960s.

Renewed immigration from Europe after World War II, and the natural increase in Ontario’s baby boom, placed increased demands on Ontario’s Catholic schools. A decline in religious orders and the increase of lay teachers placed additional financial burdens on Catholic school boards that were already desperately trying to finance their school facilities and programs.

This Ontario post-war boom occurred across Durham Region too. In the 1950s, there was an unprecedented building boom as new schools were established in Pickering at St. Mary (1952); in Uxbridge at St. John Training School (1957) and St. Joseph (1958); in Ajax at St. Francis de Sales (1953) and St. Bernadette (1951); in Whitby at the present St. John the Evangelist (1955), St. Theresa (1957),and St. Paul, (1959); and in  Oshawa at St. Christopher (1956), Msgr. Coffey (1959), St. Gertrude (1954) and St. Joseph (1958).

This boom in school construction in Durham was even more pronounced in the 1960s.This growth was also assisted in 1964 when provincial school grants were issued to Catholic school boards to provide similar educational funding as public schools in their community. However, it should be pointed out that this unprecedented growth was not coordinated on a regional basis. There was not a regional Catholic board of education at the time and the responsibility for this growth fell upon individual Catholic school boards located in the municipalities of Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Uxbridge, Mara and Oshawa.

In the early 1960s two new high schools were established St. Joseph Catholic School (run by the Sisters of St. Joseph) and Archbishop Denis O’Connor (run by the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception). Credit is also due to the Felician Sisters who worked in the region at this time teaching in Durham’s elementary schools. The funding of these high schools counted on generosity from the community (such as the annual student D’OC walk-a-thon) or surprising acts of generosity, such as a $10,000 cheque given by Col.R.S. McLaughlin to the St. Joseph Sisters to purchase musical instruments for St. Joseph High School.

In the 1960s, growth was particularly focused in Oshawa with a new school opening almost every year namely, Fr. Francis Mahoney (1963), John F. Kennedy (1964), Sir Albert Love (1965),  St.Thomas Aquinas (1965), St. Michael (1966), St. Philip the Apostle (1968), and John XXIII (1969). Elsewhere, schools were built in Pickering at Holy Redeemer (1962) and Our Lady of the Bay (1969) and in Brooklin at St. Leo’s (1964).

In 1969, all Ontario boards of education were permitted to amalgamate into larger boards that would have more access to funding and be more efficient. In 1969, the Ontario County Roman Catholic Separate School Board was created, amalgamating Catholic school boards in Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Uxbridge, Mara and Oshawa. In addition, some provincial funding was extended to Catholic schools for Grades 9 and 10 in 1970, making Durham’s Catholic high schools more financially viable. This post war boom in Catholic schools did not repeat itself in the 1970s. In that decade only two schools were built – Father Joseph Venini (1970) and Canadian Martyrs (1973)—and both were in Oshawa. That decade, the board was renamed Durham Region Roman Catholic Separate School Board (1974).