Oshawa Memories: 1960's & 1970's

So I got a little tired of printing OCHS alumnus obituaries, so I did another webscrape of Oshawa memories during those halcyon salad days when we were in high school there. Without further ado:

Steve Thompson
Do you remember the arcade at the O.C.?

Derek Snelgrove
I spent some time in Oshawa some 40 years ago . We met some real cool people there. Harrys Hideaway Bar was, the bees kneez! As was the Carousel bar.

Lori McKendrick
The Villa, across from Central Collegiate. The Genosh, My Sisters Place. Corkys. Main Street. Mothers Pizza. Flying Squirrel. Woodys. The Tartan.

Sharon McIlhargey
Mickey Finn's. Jubilee Pavilion wedding receptions. Kmart Plaza car shows.

Mike Lee
The Rosebowl had the best shoestring French fries... and how about the outdoor skating rink in North Oshawa...the best of the shoeshine guys on Simcoe street just up from the 4 corners.

Sandy Cuffy
Jury and Lovell Drugstore
Woolworths
Dairy Queen on Simcoe Street across from Central Collegiate
GM Picnics with rides at Lakeview Park
Drive-in theatre on Thorton Road
The Oshawa Times Building Fire
I even remember when The Oshawa Centre was one level and had an opening where the roof was and you had to wear your winter coats while shopping. My mom had a picture of us there once. I was about 4 or 5.

Wendy Mchappy
The Shops up top had a great record store. Kresges, Lil' Bo Peep, Tats Tavern, The Red Baron restaurants in the OC.. also Sears and Eatons had their own restaurants. All of them made the Centre Burger.. would love that recipe as you cannot get it anymore.

Kresge's on Simcoe near the four corners, Laura Secords on the southeast corner, Woolworths up the street, the Metropolitan, Young Moderns, Henderson's Book Store, The Globe on King St.

Janice Wilson-Fontaine
I grew up in Oshawa. Childhood ,I remember it for being ,such a lovely city. The older downtown stores,were wonderful to me to shop at.There was nothing dirty, or armpit,shwa, about it, as you say.Thats ignorant people being degrading,it's all on them.Like any growing city it has it share of problems.Then help the underprivileged, quit complaining. I'm proud of living in Oshawa,I do my part to help. Try it ,it's very rewarding.

Michele Buller
Rose bowl best fish &chips, cherry coke.

Wendy Mchappy
I remember the downtown hotels that were really rooming houses... The Queen's Hotel, and Genosh. Although the Genosh had a great restaurant at one time with a Sunday buffet. Also Magic Car and roller skating halls...Caesar's Palace and the one on Athol that used to be the Loblaws. You had to walk down 2 flights of stairs, pay, get your skates, then walk up 2 flights of stairs to the rink!

Brad Alexander
I remember when the OC was a totally outdoor mall. Mom would take me shopping for clothes at St Michael’s there and the ventilation was so bad I would fall asleep. LOL

Debbie Woods
I remember the OC when Dominion grocery store was still there by the theatre and you could get a piece of apple pie with a scoop of ice cream and a small coke for 25 cents. My parents took us to the Bo Peep restraunt for dinner once in a while - it was a BIG treat to dress up and go out for dinner then.

(pic stolen from John Barker's blog: https://soundingsjohnbarker.wordpress.com/)

Pat Poirier
Do any of you remember The Red Barn or The South End Tavern? Spent a lot of fun times at both these places... lol

Barry Oso Mosko
We use to own the North Golf Oshawa Driving Range north Simcoe Street !

Tony Woodcock
I remember when the OC was a strip mall and to walk to school you had to go across the parking lot that was filled in by the Sears store, about 1967

"Our High School days may have been short and temporary in our lives, but the memories are forever."

School Board Archives

While trolling through the school board archives, I came across this pic of the trustees including Stanley Karwowski in the lower bottom right.

Stanley was a year behind me and his brother was a year ahead of me in my brother's class. I actually met Stanley again at the pub night for the 50th Anniversary of the School a few years back.

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).