St. Mary’s School

St. Mary’s School. . , On the east side of this block (Block 35, Lots B, C, E and F) once stood St. Mary's School., St. Andrew's has played an important role in the history of Catholic education in Ontario from the primary to post-secondary levels. The first resident pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Ryan, built St. Mary's. The two-storey clapboard school, completed in 1860, was the first Catholic school between Toronto and Hamilton. Fr. Ryan also purchased the southwest corner of King and Reynolds and established a convent for the Sisters who taught at the school. This home also served as a school for children of all denominations. As well, Fr. Ryan, an astute businessman, left a large sum, in trust, to his nephews (Fr. Lawrence Brennan and Fr. Patrick Ryan), who came from Ireland and became Basilian priests. With the money, Fr. Brennan purchased 50 acres of farmland in north Toronto (later, the site for St. Michael's College School). The sale of part of this land funded the Kelly Library at the University of St. Michael's College. In 1880, two lots of land on the west side of Reynolds, extending from Lakeshore to Robinson Streets, were transferred from Fr. Jeremiah Ryan to Fr. Patrick Ryan, and then to the Diocese of Hamilton. In 1929, the Diocese gave this land to the Oakville Catholic School Board, and in 1930 this funded the replacement of the original St. Mary's with a larger brick structure., St. Mary's was a community hub. A venue for meetings, bazaars, choir practices, as well as wedding and funeral receptions, St. Mary's was also the mother school from which new schools found life. In 1978, St. Mary's Anglophone students were moved to St. James and St. Vincent schools, and St. Mary's became Ecole Ste. Marie, Oakville's first French language school. Sadly, the school was demolished in 1987. ,