St. Boniface Catholic School in Maryhill celebrates its 110th anniversary next Thursday, making it the oldest Catholic school in Waterloo Region still in existence.
The village of Maryhill – known as New Germany until 1941 – had a school as early as 1834. The current building was the fourth school built by the community, a two-storey brick building with four classrooms. Additions were constructed in 1965 and again in 1968, doubling the number of classrooms.
The anniversary will be marked with an open house, barbecue and a special mass celebrated by Bishop Ustrzycki.
School secretary Diane Strickler, one of the members of the planning committee, said there will be historical displays in the gym for people to get a glimpse of the school’s history.
“We’ve got the old school registers which date back from 1896, and they’re beautiful – such beautiful handwriting,” she said.
A DVD will be playing, showing scenes of St. Boniface from the very first school up to the present day.
Strickler has been secretary at St. Boniface for 27 years, but her connection with the school goes back farther than that. She herself was a student at the school, and her father, grandfather and great-grandfather all went to St. Boniface.
“There’s a bunch of us – different families in the school – that can say the same thing, they’re fifth generation here,” she said.
Strickler said her father, now 88, is looking forward to reconnecting with some of his old classmates.
The school is also cutting the ribbon on its naturalization project, planting trees in the large yard behind the school.
The celebrations start at 4:30 p.m. on May 7 with the open house, barbeque, games and historical displays. The dedication for the naturalization project is at 6:30, with mass to follow at 7 p.m.
