Lisgar Collegiate Institute is an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board secondary school in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Lisgar is located in downtown Ottawa by the Rideau Canal. It is just blocks from Canada's Parliament buildings. The school serves the neighbourhoods of Sandy Hill, New Edinburgh, Centretown, Rockcliffe Park, and has many students from other areas. The school is also known for its gifted student program. It is one of the province's best regarded public schools.
History
In 1843, a District Grammar School was opened in the Centretown area of Ottawa at the corner of Waller and Daly streets. There were 40 paying students. In 1859, the school was one of the first in Ontario to admit girls.
Several Grammar Schools were consolidated as the Ottawa Collegiate Intstitute (OCI) in 1873. At the time, "collegiate institute" was a designation given to schools in Upper Canada that had four or more masters who were well-qualified to teach classics, moderns, English and mathematics. The school board acquired the land on Biddy Street for C$3,200 and paid a squatter C$100 to give up any claims on the land. (Biddy Street was renamed Lisgar street in 1880 after Lord Lisgar Canada's second Governor-General.)
The building was designed in the Gothic Revival style by W.T. Thomas and W. Chesterton, and was built at a cost of C$26,000. The school opened in 1874 when Governor General Lord Dufferin laid the cornerstone.
In 1892, the school was the first public secondary school in Ontario to hire a female teacher.
Four new classrooms were added in 1892, but a fire in 1893 caused the school to be temporarily closed. In 1903, a new wing was built with eight new classrooms. Another wing with laboratories and an auditorium was added in 1908. A rifle range for the cadet corps was added in 1912, and a cafeteria in 1923.
In 1922, OCI was renamed Ottawa Lisgar Street Collegiate Institute which soon was shortened to Lisgar Collegiate Institute.
In 1951, a new gymnasium was built across the street with a connecting tunnel. This building was enlarged in 1962. The old gym was turned into what is now the cafeteria.
In 1957, Lisgar was the first school in Ontario to introduce a special program for gifted students.
In the 1970s, a cash-strapped Ottawa Board of Education decided to close the school and sell its valuable downtown real estate. This action was blocked by community members and alumni.
In 1994, the third floor of the building was completely redone and the science labs were modernized.
In March of 2003, parts of the first, second, and basement floors of the main building were damaged by a water leak. Some minor changes were made to the first floor in the reconstruction.
Noted alumni
- Governor General Adrienne Clarkson - former head girl
- James Naismith - inventor of basketball
- Lorne Greene - star of TV's Bonanza
- Rich Little - impressionist
- Peter Jennings - TV news anchorman in the USA
- Donald Jackson - World champion figure skater
- Ann Heggtveit - World and Olympic ski champion
- Henry John Lawrence Botterell - World War I fighter pilot
- Shelagh Rogers - journalist, host of Sounds Like Canada