The original photo is the property of Bill and Shirley (Holden) Ross of Simcoe, who loaned it to us for scanning in Nov 2009. Bill appears in this photo and provided the nucleus of our students' names list for this photo. Other identifications that will be/have been provided by site visitors are/will be credited on the appropriate individual web pages.

Bill and Shirley are not certain precisely when this photo was taken. "Circa 1940" is their best guess after reviewing the faces in the photo. The name of the photographer is not known.

While we appreciate the efforts of all who have identified students, identifications should be considered tentative until confirmed. The older the "last updated" date on each bio web page, the higher our confidence in that identification.
 
The original photo has faded very little, and showed few signs of age and other imperfections, although a few are apparent in some of our of our enlargements. The original black and white print measures approximately 5 inches by 7 inches. There are 44 people (43 students and one teacher) in the picture.

South School was a multi-classroom elementary school located at the corner of Kent Street and South Drive, circa 1930. A twin of North School, South School was built so Central School could be demolished to make way for the new American Can factory. 

Robinson Street was the south/north dividing line for school attendance. Those living on the south side of Robinson Street or further south, attended South School. Those living on the north side of Robinson Street or further north attended North School. Another school wouldn't be added to the mix until Elgin Ave. Public School opened in 1950.

At the time this photo was taken, Ontario elementary education consisted of eight grades: 
1 through 8. Typically students would have started elementary school at approximately age 5 and graduated eight years later, age 13, so the students in this photo would have been born between approximately the late 192os and the mid 193os.

Many, if not all, of these students presumably appear in one of our photos of Simcoe High students from the later 1940s.