Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

1926
Miss Dukeshire Incident
Emery Langille resigns
Murray E. Fitch appt. Principal
1927
Morris Maxner-
“Substitute Principal”
Harry Houdini dies: no escape
W. I. donates Jubilee Park to town
Lindburgh Flies Atlantic
Technology: The Age of The Motor Car
The world was changing. Wooden shipbuilding and fishing, the industries
that had made Mahone Bay prosper, were in steady decline in the ‘20s. So
was the age of working oxen and horses. In 1914, the motor car in Mahone
was rare. By 1930 it was commonplace. A sign of the times was the brand
new, top of the line, brick gas station built right at the center of town in 1929.
1928
J. Murdoch Fraser appt. Principal Babe Ruth-a North American Sport
Hero
1929
H.V. Corkum appt Principal
Wall Street Crash starts
The Depression
The photo is from a postcard:
Courtesy David Hennigar The
May 29th 1923 Bridgewater Bulletin
reported that ‘….a large crowd
was present…The procession formed
at the Academy grounds and proceeded
to the place of unveiling…the
69th Band… Veterans, Boy Scouts,
Cubs, Campfire Girls…some 600
school children, presenting a very
pretty appearance….Lieut. Governor
and Mrs. Grant arrived…. “I am
glad to see so many children present…They
will always remember
today”…. Cannon Harris…presented
the Memorial to the town and explained
its meaning….It was paid for,
with the exception of a liberal contribution
from the Women’s Institute,
by private subscription…………….’
Photo: Courtesy Bev... Ernst Collection
A Water Pump, a “New-Fangled” Steam Furnace and a Controversial Public
Meeting
On February 11th the Progress’s Mahone Bay column reported: The school
commissioners have placed an electric motor in the Academy for pumping water
into the tanks.
Until then, the aging but still mighty janitor, Mr. Daurie, had been obliged
to fill the tanks by bucket and hand from the school well. The new system
worked well, except in the depths of winter-when the pump or water line or
both would freeze.
The New Heating System
• By 1919 the school board realized the traditional style hot air system was
inadequate. It was a gravity system relying on hot air circulating from the
furnace, and cooler air being reheated. Air was supposed to circulate through
a system of grates and ducts. The building was too big, the classrooms too
huge, the ceilings too high. There was little or no insulation.
• Frank Powers of Powers Brothers, Lunenburg, and the Gurney Massey
Company were consulted. They recommended a new steam/hot water radia-
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