A crowd gathers after Mass for the blessing of the Catholic Education Centre cornerstone.

…from a convent and high school
…to a kindergarten classroom
…to a Catholic Education Centre

From the Huron-Perth CDSB: On Sunday, June 8, 2014, the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board in Dublin celebrated its 100 year anniversary of the building. The day began with Mass at St. Patrick’s Church, Dublin, celebrated by Fr. John Pirt, Vocations Director with the Diocese of London, and former parish priest, Fr. Moe Charbonneau. Mass was followed by a commemorative blessing of the continuation school/board office cornerstone.

Approximately 450 former and current staff, students, and community members reminisced as they toured the former continuation school, watched a video of the past 100 years, listened to the DCS school song being played, viewed artifacts, enjoyed live entertainment, and took horse-drawn carriage rides throughout Dublin.

A History of the Building

June 1914 – The Board Office was originally built as a Continuation School (Gr. 9-13) which housed a convent large enough to accommodate ten Religious Sisters. The parish priest at that time requested and obtained several of the Ursuline Sisters from Chatham to teach at the new high school and St. Patrick’s elementary school across the street. The Continuation School closed in 1969 when it became impossible to receive funding.

In 1970, two rooms on the main floor of the former Continuation School were remodelled for Kindergarten classes from St. Patrick’s School.

In 1975, the Huron-Perth County Roman Catholic Separate School Board purchased the former Continuation School and Convent to use as administration offices. The location was ideal since Dublin is situated in the centre of the two counties. It seemed appropriate that Catholic Education in Huron and Perth counties should continue to have a presence in this building.