Central Public School

Central Public School was not the initial building to occupy this site. The first building was a two story frame structure built about 1840 as Bowmanville's first court house and town hall., In 1855, as an improvement to education, an assortment of small schools then being run by the town were consolidated in this building as the United Common and Grammar School, or Union School. In 1856, the town hall relocated to new quarters at the northwest corner of King and Temperance Streets; and two wings, one on each side, were added to the building. William Hunt, later to gain fame as the famous daredevil "The Great Farini", attended this school. Sir Sam Hughes, Canada's Minister of Defence in World War One, taught here. The Union School burned in 1887., It was decided to build two new modern schools to replace this old one and on this site in 1889 Central Public School was erected (notice the date stone at the building's peak). An addition was added on the east side in 1926. The other school was the High School and was built on Queen Street in 1890. Central still retains its Victorian charm, but the bell tower on the west side was taken down in 1976 for safety reasons. The bell now modified on a cairn on the front lawn, is used on the last day of school for yearly graduations.