Town completes purchases of LDSS, Mill Street properties

By Mark Ribble

LEAMINGTON — The Municipality of Leamington has announced the closing of real estate deals to purchase the old Leamington District Secondary School property and also that of the former Mill Street Public School.

Mayor Hilda MacDonald, speaking at the annual Mayors’ Breakfast on Zoom, announced Friday morning that the municipality was due to close on those two deals.

Planning is in the early stages, but according to MacDonald, the acquisition of the two school properties will provide options for integrated, affordable and sustainable housing for area residents.

Mill Street Public School, 1967-2017

“Council is very excited to be able to provide better housing for residents and newcomers,” she said. “It’s a beacon of hope for us.”

MacDonald said that planning can now get underway by council and administration with regard to the two school properties.

Mill Street Centennial Public School was built in 1967 and was built to resemble the shape of a maple leaf to commemorate the Canadian Centennial that year.

It had replaced the old Mill Street School, which was situated where the parking lot is at the corner of Mill and Princess Streets. Mill Street acted as a senior public school for many years, housing only students in grades 7 and 8. Students were bussed in from all of the area public schools, which had students only up to Grade 6 at the time.

Eventually, Mill Street was opened up for all grades and all the feeder schools went back to the traditional K-8 format. It closed after 50 years, in 2017.

Leamington District Secondary School closed its doors in 2017, upon completion of the new school on Oak St. West. The building on Talbot Street was built in 1953, which replaced the previous Leamington High School, built in 1923 across the street from that location.

Leamington District Secondary School, 1953-2017