Who was W.H. Ballard and why is there a school in Hamilton named after him?
Published January 24, 2020 at 7:04 pm
As one of Hamilton’s oldest institutions, W.H. Ballard Elementary School has pretty deep roots in the city’s community – particularly the East End.
So where did it get that name?
As one of Hamilton’s oldest institutions, W.H. Ballard Elementary School has pretty deep roots in the city’s community – particularly the East End.
So where did it get that name?
W.H. Ballard Elementary School, located at 801 Dunsmure, was designed by architect F.W. Warren and constructed in 1922.
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The architect, Frederick Wilson Warren was born in Hamilton and obtained practical experience with several local architects, including E.B. Patterson, Stewart and Witton and Mills and Hutton,
before starting his own practice in 1912.
A City of Hamilton report from 2014, seeking to have Ballard designated a Heritage sight, points out that Warren’s association with the design of the school bears much historical significance.
According to the school’s website, in 1923, the school was the largest public school in Canada and a modern adaptation of the sixteenth century English Renaissance architecture.
It was only fitting, then, that it has a name that reflects its singularity and prestige.
W.H. Ballard was born in 1845 in a small Ontario town called Greenwood.
Dr. Ballard, as he eventually came to be known, was a trained educator who held a number of prominent positions at several prestigious Ontario schools.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Toronto University and he was awarded a Gold Medal in mathematics. He went on to earn a Master of Arts degree.
Ballard was Head Master of Chatham High School in the 1870s, and was later named Mathematical Master of the Hamilton Collegiate Institute as well as a Member of the Senate of Toronto University and served on the Educational Council.
In 1884, he was elevated to the office of Principal of the Collegiate, and shortly thereafter, he was appointed chief inspector of Hamilton’s public schools. He held this latter office in addition to that of local administrator of the Adolescent Act.
When it came time to name the school in 1923, the Board of Education wanted to honour a prominent Hamiltonian and also an accomplished educator. Dr. Ballard was quickly recognized and the school acquired its name.
Since then, generations of Hamiltonians have been educated within the walls of this historical institution.
Photo from Google Streetview
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