As the population of York Colony grew in the late part of the 1800s, it was apparent that education facilities for the children of the settlers must be addressed.

In 1889 a school building was erected on the banks of the Little Whitesand River (locally known as Bull's River) and on December 13 the school opened with 15 students and Miss Ella Carson as the teacher.

When the townsite was moved in 1890 a new school house was built on Argyle Street (present location of Holly's). The one-room stone and wood structure was erected for the sum of $1,200. Miss Nellie Teeple was its first teacher. The school clock from this school is on display at the Yorkton Western Development Museum.

In 1985 the Yorkton Historical Society dedicated a plaque on the site of this Old Stone School. Sadly vandals knocked down the steel structure on which the plaque was located .The plaque was later found and is now sitting on the flower planter at Shaw Park on Fifth Avenue.

As the population of Yorkton increased, the one room school was insufficient and a wooden structure was built beside the school to accommodate the extra students.

Soon the "Stone School" was overcrowded and in 1899 a six room brick building was erected on Fifth Avenue (the present site of Shaw Park). It was named Victoria School and originally only three rooms were used but with the expanding school population new rooms were put to use in 1900, 1903 and 1904.

In 1906 a public school was built at the corner of Broadway and Laurier. The three storey building was named the West End School.

It soon became apparent that a high school was required to meet the needs of the students of Yorkton and in 1909 a two room cottage on Darlington Street West was opened as a high school. The first high school principal was W.S.Cram, assisted by Niss Norseworthy.

This school was used until the Yorkton Collegiate Institute was constructed on the same grounds as the cottage school. Previously high school classes were held in the council chambers and later in the parish hall before moving to the cottage on Darlington.

The Yorkton Collegiate Institute was constructed at a cost of $54,000 and was officially opened in December 1911 by C.W. Brown, Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchwan, and Dr. W.C. Murray, president of the University of Saskatchewan.

As the interest in education increased there was a need for more teachers. To meet this need a normal school (teachers' college) was opened in Yorkton in January 1912 with 28 pupils. Classes were held in the Yorkton Collegiate Institute and the instructors were J.F. Hutchinson and J.T.M. Anderson.

In October 1912 the Yorkton Business College opened, with classes in bookkeeping, business methods, penmanship, commercial law, rapid figuring, Pitman'sshorthand and touch typing. Day classes and night classes were held and students could enrol for a monthly or quarterly period.

The population of Yorkton continued to grow and addition teaching facilities were required. In 1913 Simpson School was built on Melrose Street, on land donated by Wm. Simpson, at a cost of $108,000.

Burke School built in the northern section of Yorkton was named after Mr. Burke, who had been a teacher in Yorkton for 17 years.The school opened in April 1921 with 230 students. This school replaced the little cottage school on Second and Darlington which had opened in 1916.

In 1973 Burke School students were transferred to the Dr. Brass Elementary School and theParkland Community College operated from the school until it moved to its present location on Melrose Avenue. Burke School was later demolished and the grounds were declared a Ukrainian Memorial Park, with a horse shoe pitch at the north end of the lot.

In 1929 Victoria School was moved into a nine room facility on Fourth Avenue North. When the students of the school were transferred to Dr. Brass Elementary School, the Yorkton Arts Centre took over three rooms of the school until the Centre moved to the Godfrey Dean Building on Smith Street.

In 1972 the school was torn down to make way for the construction of the three senior citizen residences: Queen Elizabeth Court, Fisher Court andVictoria Court.

Four new rooms were added to Simpson School in 1952 at a cost of 427,150. Simpson School and its annex now houses the Parkland Community College.

Fairview School on King Street was built in 1954 with grades one to four. In 1955 it housed grades one to six and with an addition of two rooms, the school later accommodated students from grades one to eight.

Mildred Baldwin was the first principal and the first woman to be principal of a Yorkton school.

Fairview school was closed in 1998 and is now the administrative office of the Yorkton Public School Division and the Yorkdale School Division.

Angus Spice School , located on North Street, was opened in 1961 and was named after the gentleman who was secretary of the Public School Board for 20 years. The school closed in 1991 and is now occupied by the Society for the Involvement of Good Neighbors (SIGN).

A survey in 1957 showed the need for a school for handicapped persons. The first classes were held in the Oddfellows Halll on Third Avenue. The Yorkton Lions Club took the initiative and built a school for special needs children on Independent Street.

Known as the Lions School, special equipment for the school and playground was donated by the various service and fraternal clubs in Yorkton.The school operated for many years, but in recent years the students attending the Lions School were integrated with students in other elementary schools.

Columbia School, located on Bradbrooke Drive, is the largest school in Yorkton and serves students in the south west part of the city. It was opened in 1965.

The Yorkton Composite School was built in 1960 on Gladstone South as a high school for rural students and students living in that area. Later it became an elementary school serving rural students and city students living in that area.

The aging YCI building needed extensive repairs and the Board began plans for a new school.

Reg Ball, chairman of the Board, was a farsighted man and came up with the plan to ask a group from Columbia University to study the needs of high school education in Yorkton. As a result of the Columbia Report the Yorkton Public and the Yorkton Rural School Boards jointly made plans for the new facility.

Construction started in 1966 and was completed in 1967 at a cost of $5 million. Included were 46 classrooms, numerous laboratories, a 750 seat theatre with acoustical and lighting values, a double gymnasium, a library and a student cafeteria where students could take cooking as an elective.

The school was named the Yorkton Regional High School and the theatre, the Ann Portunuff Theatre, named after Mrs. H.Portnuff, a member of the board and a long time promoter of the arts in Yorkton.

The old YCI building was demolished and a new elementary school was built around the Dr. Brass Auditorium, to become known as the Dr. Brass Elementary School

The history of the Yorkton Catholic School system will follow in the next column.