S.S. No. 9 Stanhope, the red schoolhouse on the Minden Hills Museum grounds, once served the families of Hindon Hill and Brady Lake in the northern reaches of the townships of Minden Hills and of Algonquin Highlands.
Hindon Hill was located on the old Bobcaygeon Colonization Road on what is now Brady Lake Road, north of Hwy 118 and south of Brady Lake. Hindon Hill and Brady Lake were small but bustling settlements, Hindon Hill having both the school and post office.
In 1896, the first S.S. No. 9 Stanhope school was old and too small for the needs of the community. The council of Stanhope Township debated whether to put an addition on the existing school house, which was in dire need of repair, or to build a completely new school house.
The 1896-1898 Stanhope Township Minute Book at the Stanhope Museum chronicles the decisions made in building a new schoolhouse, which was referred to as S.S. No. 9 Stanhope and Hindon. Excerpts are included in this exhibit.
In the 1931 - 1939 General Register, teacher Barbara J. Cooper has recorded the history of the origin of the school. Her report became a brief romantic history of the area and starts:
The Origin of S.S. No. 9 Stanhope
With the picturesque advertisements and glowing accounts of a land flowing with milk and honey, the inhabitants of England, Ireland and Scotland were induced to emigrate to Canada to make for themselves wealth and homes beyond compare.
Young men and women journeyed across the turbulent ocean and settled in different sections of the country and some had their destination as Hindon Hill.
Farms were cleared and families soon grew until a settlement of about a hundred lived about Hindon Hill.
Soon came the need for education for the growing boys and girls.....
You can read her complete story in this exhibit.
The log book pages end with the statement that the "School closed temporarily June the thirtieth 1939"
Over the years, school enrollment had dropped as the population moved away.
In 1927, the provincial government arranged for families to be moved to what was then called New Ontario. Their Hindon Hill land would be reforested and the families would be granted 80 acres of land in the Englehart area, assistance in building new homes and free transportation for their belongings and animal stock.
By 1939, there were only 3 students attending the school.
The school never reopened after 1939 and in 1946, the building was sold to Bill Branson, who donated it to the Minden Museum in 1993.
Like other small isolated hamlets, Hindon Hill is now only remembered on a few maps.
This exhibit features a few teacher and class photographs and school attendance registers. It also includes photographs of the Taylors, who were typical of the families living in Hindon Hill at the time the school was built.
The story of the school is interwoven with the story of the community. We invite you to.....
