While exploring our collection, Justine discovered this FUN artiFACT!

This bell commemorates the 1982 restoration of The Old Britannia Schoolhouse by the Peel Board of Education with help from many community members such as the late Benson (Ben) Madill who held fondly memories of attending the school himself.

Since 1982, and continuing today, students and public have had the opportunity to visit the Old Britannia Schoolhouse and participate in first-person historical re-enactments of early settlement life in historic Mississauga.

The Old Britannia Schoolhouse, formerly S.S. #12 Toronto Township, was built c. 1852, replacing an earlier clapboard school building. A date of 1876 has often been given for the schoolhouse, but this date is likely referencing repairs and alterations to the 1852 brick building.

When it was built, the schoolhouse was surrounded by farms and small villages in the Township of Toronto, County of Peel in the province of Ontario. Hurontario Street (highway 10) was a rough country road running past the front door. The Old Britannia Schoolhouse welcomed generations of children from 1852 until 1959 when it closed its doors.

Recommended reading:
Britannia School and School Farm … and My School Days by Benson Madill