Beginnings

The Galt Grammar School officially opened on February 2, 1852, and classes were initially held in the upper storey room of the old township hall (located near the corner of present-day Cambridge Street and Park Hill Road in Cambridge, Ontario). Eight boys made up the first group of students, and were taught English and Classics by Michael C. Howe, a scholar from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.^[2] However, Howe's term as headmaster was short-lived. Although by all accounts his scholarship in Classics was impressive, Howe's successes were offset by his eccentricities. He was not an engaging instructor, and typically spent the school day seated at his desk reading a newspaper and inhaling snuff while his students taught made the effort to teach themselves. According to his students, Howe was only energetic when it came to discipline; he frequently used the strap to enforce obedience for the slightest infraction. Rising criticisms of Howe's pedagogy led to his resignation within a year.^[3]

The Tassie era, 1853–1881

Howe was succeeded in 1853 by William Tassie. While Tassie was headmaster, the Galt Grammar School achieved widespread recognition as one of the finest grammar schools in North America. Enrollment at the school reached between 250 and 300 boys within a decade, and roughly 80 percent of attendees were from elsewhere in Canada, the United States, England, and the West Indies.^[4] To accommodate the growing number of boys attending the school, a one-room schoolhouse was built on the present site from land donated by the Dickson family in 1853. Additions were made to the original building as required, and by 1870 the school's layout resembled a two-storey stone cross. A boarding home system was also adopted to accommodate students attending from outside of Galt.^[5]

Tassie was described by his students as a gentleman "of the old school." Furthermore, he was strict, dignified, and somewhat cold towards his pupils. But Tassie was also highly respected by his students for his successes for furthering higher education in Upper Canada. He was awarded an honorary LLD from Queen's University in 1871.^[6] Due largely to Tassie's contribution to the school, the Galt Grammar School became a Collegiate Institute in 1872.^[7]

In his later years as headmaster, Tassie was increasingly pressured to conform to educational reforms made in Upper Canada. Provincial examinations were introduced in 1876 and emphasized practical rather than classical education. Tassie stubbornly refused to change his teaching methods, based principally on rote memorization, and consequently his students consistently failed to meet provincial standards. By 1881 the enrollment had fallen to 50 boys, and Tassie faced increased criticism that he ultimately resigned that year along with his entire staff of teachers.^[8]

Galt Collegiate Institute Girls' School, 1872–1881

Sarah Crawford was the first woman to become a member of the teaching staff at the Galt Grammar School, and taught French to the boys from 1870 to 1877.^[9] Girls, however, were not admitted on an equal basis to GCI until a decade later. Tassie was pressured to adopt co-education and allow girls into his school to receive the same level of education as the boys, but refused. As a compromise, he established the separate Girls' School, which officially opened on April 15, 1872, in the former Wesleyan Chapel on North Street. The school was overseen by a lady principal, and attendance rose to about 40 girls after it was organized. When Tassie resigned in April 1881, girls were admitted attendance at GCI with the boys and the building was sold to The Crown for $750.00 and became the Galt Armoury until about 1914.^[10]

Bryant and Carscadden years, 1881–1914

Tassie was succeeded by John E. Bryant, who was tasked to hire a completely new teaching staff and revive GCI's prestige while embracing educational reform. The separate girls' school was closed and co-education adopted in 1881. The boarding house system was also abolished. During Bryant's administration, a literary and musical society was formed, considered the first known student organization at the school.^[11] At the time, GCI offered English, Classics, Mathematics, Modern Languages, and Science. Soon Bryant became headmaster, a Commercial Department was organized with W. G. Brown as its head, as well as an Art Department with Mrs. Henry Miller as teacher of drawing and painting.^[12] Bryant encouraged sports, believing that they provided "the antidote for mischief present in the composition of every true boy," and organized the GCI Football Club. Bryant, however, resigned as headmaster in 1884 when became increasingly deaf, and was succeeded by his assistant principal, Thomas Carscadden.^[13]

While Carscadden was principal, GCI grew in enrollment and required additional teaching space. Renovations on the building were conducted between 1905 and when the school re-opened in September 1906. The corners of the original cross structure were filled and a third storey added, which made up most of the midsection of the present building.^[14] In addition, a school cadet corps was organized in 1899, which overtime became a significant part of the school's activities until the 1970s, and which eventually became the present-day 21 Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada Army Cadets.^[15]

After thirty years as principal, Carscadden retired in the summer of 1914, but remained to teach English for another ten years. He was recognized for his excellence in teaching and as a school administrator by receiving an honorary LLD from the University of Toronto in 1925.^[16]

World War I era, 1914–1918

Arthur Presland Gundry succeeded Carscadden as principal of GCI in 1914. Initially, Gundry and the local school board had plans to organize a vocational education program at GCI, but the onset of World War I brought those plans to a stop. Instead, GCI would focus much of its attention towards the war effort. Staff and students were heavily involved in fundraising activities to support Canadian soldiers fighting overseas. They also sent Christmas gift boxes to alumni in the Canadian army. Meanwhile, efforts were made to instill a devotion to Canada and the British Empire that would encourage enlistment from GCI's graduates. By the end of World War I, at least 348 former pupils and teachers of GCI had enlisted, and 48 of those had died while serving overseas. A marble memorial tablet was erected on the wall of the school's main corridor and unveiled on June 4, 1921.^[17]

Among the military honours awarded to GCI's alumni who served during World War I was a Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry awarded in the British army, which was awarded to George Fraser Kerr for a daring raid conducted in broad daylight at Canal-du-Nord during the Hundred Days Offensive.^[18]

The interwar years, 1919–1939

Shortly after the end of World War I, plans to organize a vocational program at GCI were renewed. To accommodate the new program, additions were required to the building. These new additions would eventually cost about $365,000, and would double the size of the school building. The plans included an auditorium, known as Tassie Hall that would seat 800; a large gymnasium for boys and a smaller gymnasium below for girls; machine shop and woodworking shop classrooms; electrical rooms; drafting room; cookery room; commercial rooms; dress-making rooms; millinery rooms; and a model suite. The corner stone for the addition was laid by the Hon. Henry John Cody, a former student, on August 7, 1923. By August 1925, renovations were complete and equipment paid. Principal Gundry, who increasingly suffered from ill health while principal at GCI, died on September 27, 1925, leaving a legacy of vocational education at the school. In addition, the school began offering vocational evening classes.^[19]

During this period, increasing attention was paid to organizing theatre productions in the newly constructed Tassie Hall. In 1925, the Galt Staff Players Club was organized and performed its first play, Bayard Veiller's The Thirteenth Chair in February 1925. The Staff Players Club would go on to compete in regional and provincial drama festivals, and would eventually become known as the Galt Little Theatre (present-day Cambridge Community Players). Students likewise produced their own plays, starting with Stop Thief in 1926.^[20]

Meanwhile, more student activities and student organizations began to emerge. By this period, the school had soccer, hockey, football, rugby, and basketball teams for boys, and basketball and softball teams for girls. A student publication known as Specula Galtonia, the forerunner of the school's present-day yearbooks, began to be produced for a time until the Great Depression. A school captaincy was set up due to the generosity of Dr. Thomas Porter, a former student, and was followed by a girl captaincy shortly after.^[21]

The Great Depression ushered in a period of financial strain on education in Ontario. In 1934 the Ontario Legislature decreed that municipalities of more than 1200 inhabitants should pay the full cost of secondary education rather than spread the cost over the entire county. Preston decided to pay for the education of students from their own municipality, and withdrew 175 pupils from GCI with the founding of Preston High School. Consequently, the staff at GCI was reduced and some shop classes closed for a brief period of time.^[22]

World War II era, 1939–1945

When World War II broke out in 1939, the staff and students of GCI became immediately and vigorously involved in the war effort. The school raised about between $1000 and $1400 by means of various activities, including proceeds from bake sales, plays, concerts, and cash donations from pupils, all of which was donated towards relief organizations. Not a single penny was spent elsewhere. The school also offered its machine shop classroom for the training of Engine Room Artificers by the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and for the training of air mechanics of the Galt Aircraft School. Both programs were vital to providing the Canadian Navy and Air Force with enough skilled mechanics to properly maintain engines and machines.^[23]

By the end of the war, about 790 alumni from GCI had enlisted for active service. The majority served in Europe or on the Atlantic with the RCN, but some others also served in Asia. A significant proportion of GCI alumni served with the local Highland Light Infantry of Canada. Seventy-eight men from GCI ultimately lost their lives, and their names were later added to the memorial tablet in the main corridor.

Rhodes Scholarships

At least two GCI alumni are known to have received Rhodes Scholarships. Richard Guisso, while attending St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto for a major in history, was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for 1966.^[29] More recently, a Rhodes Scholarship for 2012 was awarded to Steven Wang, a graduate from University of Toronto's Trinity College where he studied international relations followed by some time abroad studying conflict and peace-building.^[30]