On February 3, 1885, Edmonton School District No. 7 was legally organized under the Education Department of the Northwest Territories at Regina. The government of the Northwest Territories required that two-hundred-ten days of education be provided for the students each year; but local school boards decided which days were mandatory. Attendance was flexible, though children had to attend at least eighty days during the school year. The first Glenora School, erected in 1918, was located at the corner of 128 Street and Stony Plain Road. It was moved from its original site when the new Westmount School was built. The building still stands today - a wood frame structure housing a Baptist Church.
On March 5, 1931, GA McKee, Superintendent of Schools for Edmonton, wrote a report recommending the new school be built on property owned by the Board since 1911, between 102 and 103 Avenues and 135 and 136 Streets. The school was to accommodate two-hundred-seventy-nine students from Grades one to six, with Grades seven and eight pupils going to Oliver or Westmount. The average pupil load was to be 39.8 students per teacher. McKee recommended that the exterior harmonize with the neighbourhood's architectural character.
The present Glenora Elementary School was officially opened on Friday, November 14, 1940, by Mr. A. E. Ottewell, then Chairman of the Edmonton Public School Board. Designed in the English style with stucco and timber, by the architectural firm of Rule, Wynn and Rule, Edmonton, it cost $55,000 to build, and was constructed to allow for additions.
The first principal was Miss Jane E. Draper, who also had been principal at the original Glenora School on Stony Plain Road. Because of the "baby boom" experienced during the latter part of World War II and after, the new school was soon overcrowded. The old Glenora School was used once again for Grades one and two. Mr. J. Stockwell, principal of the new school after Miss Draper, lived in the old school for a time because of the difficulty of finding accommodation in Edmonton.
Directly in front of the school was a ravine which formed part of the school yard at the new school. The children naturally loved to play there during recess and after school. Not surprisingly, Mr. Stockwell caught more than one student in the ravine, "getting into mischief", and decided the solution to the problem was to eliminate the ravine with bulldozers. The extension of this ravine can be seen south of 102 Avenue following along St. George's Crescent.
Reprinted with permission from the book, “Old Glenora”, by Peggy O’Connor Farnell, © 1984, Old Glenora Historical Society.