Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Jesse Ketchum School

Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted May, 2010

Located on the south side of Davenport Road where it meets Bay Street, this 96-year-old (as of 2016) school is named after one of Toronto's early philanthropists. This 1982 Toronto Historical Board plaque, on the grounds near the Bay Street sidewalk, has this to say:

Coordinates: 43.672807 -79.391053

In 1856, Jesse Ketchum, tanner and philanthropist, donated this land to the Village of Yorkville for a public park and as a site for a "Free and Common School". The school erected at that time, with later additions, was replaced by the present building in 1920. Jesse Ketchum had first given land for a school, built in 1832, at McMurrich Street and Davenport Road. Born in 1782, Jesse Ketchum came to York (Toronto) from the United States in 1799. A gentle, Christian, public-spirited man, known as the "Children's Friend", he helped establish churches, schools, libraries, and set up trusts to provide prizes for school children as "incentives to diligent studies, correct deportment, and good behaviour". He died in Buffalo in 1867.

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Jesse Ketchum
Jesse Ketchum School

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Here are the visitors' comments for this page.

> Posted April 12, 2014
I went to Jesse back in 1960 to I think 1963. I loved it & all my teachers. I love this picture, cause it brings back a lot of memories.

> Posted January 4, 2013
Went there. Goes to show you what voluntary charity can do.

> Posted February 22, 2009
The main structure of the school was once called the Davenport Barracks and was used for troops heading to France between 1915 and 1918.
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