Académie St-Ignace Academy

In Cap-Saint-Ignace, St-Ignace Academy, better known as the College of Marist Brothers, was built in 1920 as a boys' school after years of effort to create a religious-led college. When the Sisters of Charity Convent for Girls opened in 1894, only two classes were reserved for boys. Around 1912, some parishioners proposed a college for boys directed by religious teachers, but the population was not yet ready to proceed. The idea advanced in 1917 after two school boards were created within the municipality. The Village School Board first met on July 9, 1917, and its five elected commissioners immediately began steps toward construction. Miss Emma Gamache had left one thousand two hundred dollars in her will for a college, the fabrique gave land on the southwest side of the church, and the new school board took out a ten thousand dollar loan. The building was completed on April 25, 1920, and three Marist Brothers were hired for the 1920-1921 school year. Many Marist Brothers later taught boys there, until the last of them left the parish in 1963 because of the decline in religious vocations. Lay people then took over. At the beginning of December 1986, the old college was demolished, and all primary parish education was concentrated in one building, the Mgr-Sirois School.

Quebec · Canada