(below) Former location of U.S.S. # 13 Hay and Stephen – Sodom School.
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“Accurate information on the Sodom school was difficult to locate. The school was located on the South Boundary of Hay Township, 4.5 miles east of Dashwood. In a letter to Stephen Township council, dated November 28, 1938, Inspector of Public Schools E.C. Beacom of Goderich writes: ‘As you are probably aware, U.S.S. #13 Hay and Stephen has been closed for the past year. Accordingly the amount of township grant to be paid to this section is determined by the Public School Act. The sum expended by this section on the transportation of their pupils and their fees at adjoining schools during 1938 was $243.60.’
Teachers who taught at Sodom included Henry Triebner, Elgin Schotz, Luke Snider, Lavina Smith, Mrs. C. Prouty, Miss A. Powers, Gerta Forrest, Evelyn Clarke, Elva Anderson, Joe Reech and Charles Pearce.”
extracted from “The History of Stephen Township”, by Susan Muriel Mack, 1992; pg. 304
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U.S.S. # 13 (Sodom), Hay and Stephen
“The original school in Sodom (c. 1885) was a small store which was converted into a Union Public School and was used for church services. This first school was torn down in 1905 and a new brick school was built. The following information was provided by Pauline Guenther, whose mother was a pupil at the first school. It is not known whether the second school was built on the same location as the first. This union school was built on parts of Lot 8 and 9, SB [Hay Township] about 1890 [?]. This white brick, two story school was first heated by a large box stove. In 1920, a furnace was installed in the basement. The teacher lit the fires and the children did the cleaning. Lila (Ford) Broderick, a former pupil, recalls there were never more than 13 pupils attending this school. She remembers going to school with four Stanlake children, who lived in Stephen Township. Two Stanlake children classmates were killed in a tragic 1923 fire which also claimed their mother, uncle and two other children.
Mrs. Broderick also recalls the severe winter weather. When the road was not plowed, she would sometimes ride to school with E.R. Guenther. When he was hauling logs with the horses, he would let her sit on the logs. Since Sodom school was located between the two Ausable bridges, the yard was often under water. When the weather permitted, the pupils would take their skates to school and skate on the frozen school grounds. Miss L. Smith, the teacher, would cancel recesses and let the children skate until 1:30 p.m. Another former pupil, Harvey Pfaff of St. Mary’s, recalls that the school had an organ. The lady across the road would come over and play while the children marched.
A Zurich Herald item in March, 1936, noted: ‘At U.S.S. #13 Hay and Stephen, the rising Aux Sable River flooded all aproaches to the building and the teacher Charles Pearce and pupils had a holiday. The Sodom bridge near the school was submerged and motorists had to drive through it.’ The school was closed that year or in 1937. Some pupils went to S.S. # 2, Hay and others to the Sharon school in Stephen. The building was sold to Orval Ford, who tore it down, and used the bricks to build a home in Stephen Township, where his son Wayne now lives. The teachers who taught at Sodom included: Mr. Bell, the first teacher; Frances Scott who married Andrew Isaac; Agnes Bailey; Miss Robertson, Miss Kufe, Miss Ferguson, Miss Hogg, Henry Treibner, Elgin Schatz, Luke Snider, Lavina Smith, Mildred Walker, Nettie Green (Mrs. C. Prouty), A. Powers, Greta Forrest, Evelyn Forrest, Elva Anderson, Joe Creech and Charles Pearce.”
extracted from “Hay Township Highlights: 150 years of Diversified Progress, 1846 – 1996”, published by the Hay Township Book Committee under the auspices of Hay Township Council, Alice Gibb ed.; pgs. 208-210 ISBN : 0-919939-43-0
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“The late Joe Creech wrote the following article about being a novice teacher at the Sodom school.
‘In 1933, I graduated from Stratford Normal School. It was during the depression and finding a job was difficult. I wrote applications and rented a car or bicycled to see rural trustees in the area. Finally I was hired at U.S.S. # 13, Stephen and Hay. The school was in Hay Township, located between two bridges, on Highway 83 west of Exeter. I understand that 400 applications were received for the position. Coincidently, that was the same figure as the salary I received for the year – $400. The grant from the township was to be whatever the teacher was paid, up to $450. The trustees were told that the less paid the better, and I needed a start. So at the age of 18 and for $39.50 a month and with a new CCM bicycle financed by my sister, I embarked on my teaching career.
I continued to live at my mother’s home in Exeter and wheeled four and a half miles there and back. The school had a wood furnace. The water bucket was filled from a well across the road and some distance east. There were 11 pupils. There was not much snow that winter and I wheeled all but eight days when I walked. The only time I was late was one morning when a trustee who lived on the way signalled me in and said he would drive with the horse and buggy. That was the day it was 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit outside the school and 12 degrees below zero inside.
The furnace had been started but it was not burning well. There was frost on the blackboards and ceiling lathes. As the furnace got going, all my carefully prepared work on the blackboard slid off with the frost. I broke six thermos bottles that winter. The following year I got a job only two miles from home at S.S. # 5, Usborne for $550.’ (Courtesy of Mildred (Hicks) Creech)”
extracted from “Hay Township Highlights: 150 years of Diversified Progress, 1846 – 1996”, published by the Hay Township Book Committee under the auspices of Hay Township Council, Alice Gibb ed.; pg. 209 ISBN : 0-919939-43-0