535-03 Page 205Cairn preserves ----
memory of schools
at Brownsville,
Free Press Woodstock Bureau
BROWNSVILLE — This community's of
public school No. 12 and continuation schoo
is gone but not forgotten.
Former students gathered Sunday at the
site of the school, torn down i for the
unveiling of a plaque and cairn commemo-
rating the building. A former teacher, Mrs.
Edward Harris of Tillsonburg, unveiled the
plaque. She taught at the school from 1938-68.
The,five-acre property was taken over by
the Catfish Creek Conservation Authority,
which maintains it as a community picnic
and park area.
The cairn is built of brick from the school.
On one side is the plaque and on the other
the school's cornerstone. On top is the school
bell.
The history of the school goes back to 1841
when a one -room log building on Culloden
Road, on the edge of Brownsville, served the
community. In 1914 a new public school, No.
12, was built and three rooms were added in
serve1924 to
Grades 9,10 and 11 continuation
continuation school
was closed in 1954.
In 1969, the public school was closed and
pupils were bused to central schools after the
Oxford County board of education was
formed.
Owen Hawkins, chairman of the cairn
committee, said the decision to erect a mem-
orial was made in 1967 at a pupils' reunion.
Mrs. Edward Harris, a former teacher at lsrownsviue
Public School No. 12, Sunday unveiled a plaque and cairn
commemorating the school, which was torn down after
I
i
'j
clubilir, 111 xuuo, ---- -- ---- -
headed the committee that arranged to erect the cairn.
(Photo by Williams)