The First Public School in Shawnigan

With files from Brownie Gibson

The first school at Shawnigan, Malahat School was a one room building built in 1893. The

first teacher, Miss Wolfenden, stayed with the Halhed family on the west side, but from then on it was the custom for the teacher to board at the Shawnigan Lake Hotel. Some of the other early teachers remembered by old-timers are W. H. Wilson, R. K. Bell, Miss Lettice, Mr. Peacock, Miss Fox and Miss Case.

After 1914, the name of the school was changed from Malahat to Shawnigan Lake. In 1916 a larger one was built, and by 1924 the attendance was so great that the old building had to be repaired and pressed back into service.

When used as a one room school, the smaller building sat on the site of the larger one and faced towards Malta Road, which at that time ran between the school and the creek. The teachers at this milestone in school history were Mr. A. H. Plows and Miss Evelyn Dee.

Eventually a new Malahat School was built on the Shawnigan cut-off from the Old Victoria Road by the railroad crossing at the top of the hill. B y the late twenties pupils from this area came to Shawnigan Lake School by train—a rather unsatisfactory procedure as they rarely arrived before recess.

In 1938, the trustees showed foresight by purchasing as a potential school site, the four acre area in the village used for years as a playing field, and where the present Day Care Centre, Elsie Miles Park, and the Museum are now situated. The land was bought from the heirs of the Finlay estate (Kingsley) for $1350, considered to be pretty high by the minority of disapproving taxpayers.

In order to get the entire piece of land, including the part behind the Community Hall where the former school building now stands, the delicate matter of an easement to the large water tank then supplying the Hall and some houses below it had to be arranged.

This was the occasion for the renowned and historical bluff perpetrated by one of the local school trustees who said, stoutly and unrehearsed, “If we can’t have that part we don’t want any of it.”

In 1946 all small local school districts became one under the Cowichan School District, and in 1951 the new board built a three room elementary school on the site in the village. 1974, Shawnigan Lake Elementary School was renamed Elsie Miles Elementary School. The change was in honour of Elsie Miles, beloved teacher of the school from 1942 until here retirement in 1974. The school remained active until 2008 when it was closed due to declining enrollment.

The former old school was sold for use as a Catholic Church from 1951 until 2020 when the property was sold to the Black Swan Pub and demolished.