A brief History of Nantyr school, the early settlers established a hamlet at the corner of sideroad twenty and concession seven in the Township of INNISFIL. It was called Wesley. This name was later changed to Nantyr by Colonel Tyrwhitt after his home town in Wales. He was the Member of Parliament for South Simcoe. In its most flourishing days the hamlet had a church, school, post office and saw mill. All except the school have long since ceased to exist. In the early days, education of the children was one of the many problems. This was solved by what was known as a home class. Mr. Spillett was its first master and ruled with an iron hand, making frequent use of the beech rod. His salary reached a maximum of four hundred and fifty dollars per annum during his tenure of twenty-three years. By 1954 due to increased population in the Alcoa Beach area, it was found necessary to build a school there. It is known as Alcoa School.
This high school was located on Queen Street in Bradford. This is a picture taken soon after the building was constructed in 1892 as the trees and bushes surrounding the school are still quite small. The first head master was S. Arthur Marling. This building burned down in 1924.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Canada.One warm evening in June 1939, the elementary school children and parents of West Gwillimbury drove to Alliston to see the Royal Couple on board the train as it passed through the little town. But the train did not stop and thousands of disappointed onlookers did not get a glimpse of the King and Queen. Engineer Harry Toman (brother-in-law of Herbert Bowles) was under instruction not to stop the Royal Train as it was late leaving the Toronto Station. At Midhurst, where 28 peoples were gathered, the train stopped to take on water supplies. King George VI stepped off the train to shake hands with the small group. One of those present was Edith Belfry, teacher of S.S. #9 Mount Pleasant. The Bradford High School students went by train to Toronto where they saw the Royal Couple riding in the Royal Car. The pupils had been given flags to wave and in some places the children put pennies on the railroad tracks.
