A Generous Donation from the Calton Community Centre!

April 25, 2025

We were very grateful to receive a kind donation of $2,500 from the Calton Community Centre in November! The funds will be allocated to the general operations of the museum and to the care of our extensive collections.

For over fifty years, the Calton Community Centre was located in the former Calton Schoolhouse. This was a union schoolhouse, serving School Section No. 7 of Malahide and School Section No. 6 of Bayham. The first school constructed in this union section was a wood frame building located on the northwest corner of the main intersection in Calton. In 1860, this frame schoolhouse closed, and a new, larger wood frame school was constructed on land donated by the VanVelzer family. In 1915, the building was veneered with brick. By 1949, overcrowding was becoming an issue, with as many as 60 students attending the one-room school. In the fall of 1951, construction of a new two-room school began on the northeast corner of the intersection, next to the Baptist Church. This school was designed by Charles Gillin and built by Ray James, both of London, for a total cost of $42,000. In 1952, the original schoolhouse was converted into a community hall. Bayham/Malahide U.S.S. No. 6/7 was closed in 1970, and on April 24, 1976, the building was sold for $32,000 to Charles Philip Corp. The board of directors of the Community Centre chose to sell the building in the early 2000s.

We are so incredibly grateful that the Calton Community Centre corporation chose to distribute its funds locally, and to institutions like ours that strive to preserve local heritage. Thank you so much!

Undated photograph of the students of the Calton schoolhouse. (Digitally enhanced.)

Image of the Calton Schoolhouse from the 1913 Farming and Industrial Number of the Aylmer Express.