1670 Housey'S Rapids Road

Crossed Canoes Quilt Square

The S. S. No. 2 Housey’s Rapids log school house was built in 1875. The first teacher was Anne McPhee and she married Ed Housey.

In 1904 the Sunny Brae school house was framed and built north of the old log school by Marshall Davy. It was one of the few rural schools in Muskoka that had separate entrances for boys and girls. It was closed in 1962 when the new two room school house Ryde Central was built. Today that two room school house is home to many community events and it is now called the Ryde Co-op.

Mrs. Iva Breaks recalls “We played baseball and football. I lit the fire in the morning as a custodian when I was eleven or twelve. I swept and washed the floors. Teachers that I remember were Misses Ruth Stanier, Myrtle Stephens and Miss D. Robinson. Miss Stanier was from Bala and it was her first school, she was just out of high school. Some of them boarded at John Hill’s up on the hill. (Housey/Sirois place) We used to skate and ski if we had them and the boys would bobsleigh. I also remember that Fred Pilger taught some of our children one year. The kids played tricks on him. I remember one time they locked him in the school after everyone had left.”

Mr. Vern Taylor said “I enjoyed the Christmas concerts. Most grades went up to Grade 10 here but I had to go to Gravenhurst. Osbourne Bush used his car as transportation to town and then Jack Lowe took over from him. After that it was Carl Break. I also enjoyed skating Saturday nights on Bass Lake. The Sophers would come and the Goheen girls; there was ten or fifteen of us.”

Three other schools in Ryde were: S.S. No. 1 Barkway: log school house was built in the mid 1870’s. A frame school house was built in 1902 and the log school became a woodshed. The framed school house is now a private residence.
S.S. No. 3 Lewisham: log school house was built in 1879. A framed school house was built in 1898 and closed in 1949. It is now a summer residence.

S.S. No. 5 Buck Lake: log school house was built in 1880 and burnt in 1881. The frame school was built in 1890 and was closed in June 1961. It is now a private residence.

This is a private residence without access to the property.