06/19/2026
St. George’s Parochial School House opened in January as a Common Public School and was not actually run by the Church of England. The school eventually became known as the Queen Street School. The building had living quarters on the ground floor likely for the headmaster but the board also rented the space to teachers of the school over the years. The salaries of the male teachers ranged from £85-100 per year and £55-70 per year for female teachers. The original building was partially destroyed by a fire in 1863 and a new school was built on the same site in 1864. The new school was designed by architect William Coverdale and built by contractors George Newlands and Andrew Davidson. When the school reopened there were 426 pupils enrolled at the beginning of the school year. The front yard of the school featured a water pump covered by a lattice shelter due to no waterworks system existing in that part of the city until 1881. Queen Street School came to a close in 1896 with the opening of the New Frontenac School due to “never being entirely satisfactory,” partly due to poor ventilation. The property was sold in 1900 to J.B. McKay for $1200 to be used as the Kingston Business College. The building is still standing and is now used as the Something Special Daycare.
