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Schools
~ Ashton Creek
School
~ Enderby Schools
~ ~ AL Fortune School
~ ~ Beattie
Elem. School
~ ~ Public
School
~ ~ River
School
~ ~ talk with
Jean MacPherson
~ ~ talk with
Grace Lundquist
~ ~ talk with
Sandra Farynuk
~ ~ talk with
Donald MacPherson
~ ~ talk with Mr.
Larson
~ ~ talk with Mrs.
Reay
~ Grindrod
School
~ Hupel-Mabel
Lake School
~ Mara
School
~ North
Enderby School
~ Springbend
School
~ Trinity
Creek School
Transportation
A.L. Fortune School was built in 1913.
It was named for Alexander Leslie Fortune,
the first white man to settle in the valley. Contractor for the project was Mayor John L. Ruttan. The total cost for this
project was $50,000. Mr. Ruttan donated many extras, including book shelves and higher
quality materials, to ensure that the building was of the highest standard. The students
moved into this new school building during Christmas Holidays in 1913.
Built with local brick, the building had eight classrooms and three acres of area grounds. On entering the building, large swing doors guarded the broad stairway leading to the first floor hallway, off which were the principal's office and four classrooms. On the second floor there were four more classrooms and an assembly hall. Connected to these classrooms were private rooms for teachers. The first floor was for the elementary students and the second floor was for the high school students.
In the Enderby Press Henry Walker explained: "When the school convenes in the morining all the school children are marched to the assembly hall and there the Lord's Prayer is repeated and any message given by the principal to the school is delivered, after which the pupils march to their respective classrooms. In the assembly hall will be held all the school exercises, where seating acomodation could readily be provided for several hundred people...."
Play rooms and lunch rooms for the students were in the basement, with girls' quarters on the south end of the building and boys' quarters at the north end, separated by the furnace and boiler rooms. The heating system in the new school was by hot water registers from a boiler fired by wood. Consequently great piles of cordwood, over 100 cords, were piled at the rear of the school. Carrying in the wood and firing the boilers was the responsiblity of the one janitor, who also did all of the cleaning and landscaping.
The auditorium was used only for Christmas concerts for an occasional lecture. Gradually over the years it also served as a gymnasium until it was partitioned in 1961 into a classroom and library.
In 1953-54 the overcrowding in Fortune School was as severe as that in any school building in British Columbia. Built for eight classrooms, thirteen were then in use. This was largely a result of the reorganization of the school district, the shifting of grade 7 and 8 students from Grindrod and North Enderby to Enderby, and the closure of Springbend School. To alleviate the problem, trustees of Enderby School District 78 decided to build a new elementary school next to the Fortune School in Enderby.
From 1954 until 1965, the brick school housed grades 7 through 12. The front entrance was closed and the students used the north and south door. In 1965 a new wing was added to house 5 offices, a staff and nurses room, Home Economics and Industrial Arts classes, and science rooms.
With the amalgamation of Enderby & Salmon Arm into School District 89, grades eleven and twelve were bussed to Salmon Arm. A gym and cafeteria were added to the junior secondary school.
In 1975 a fire started in the science room in the new wing, quickly spreading to the brick portion of the school. The second story of the brick school was completely destroyed. A new secondary school was built in Enderby in 1978, A.L. Fortune Secondary School, and the old brick school became an integral part of M.V. Beattie Elementary.
Janine Farynuk, Lora Postma, Michelle Holmes
ALF School 1989