Join staff, students, neighbourhood families and school alumni on Friday, September 30th 2011 for Lord Tennyson Elementary's Centennial Celebration. The event kicks off at 4 PM with tours of the school's decade room. At 6 PM there will be a celebration ceremony and entertainment along with light refreshments.

To register for the event, click here. 

History of the School

Lord Tennyson Elementary School is located in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver and opened in 1911. The school was named for the English poet laureate Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892).

The Vancouver School Board purchased the school site from the Canadian Pacific Railway for $18,000 in 1909. The clearing of the land cost $1,250, and the original building was erected for the sum of $80,000. Lord Tennyson School was built because of the overcrowded conditions that prevailed at Kitsilano School and Fairview School. It opened in January 1911 with an enrolment of 381 students. 

As the population of the community served by Lord Tennyson School continued to grow, it became apparent that the original school was not large enough. This resulted in tenders being called in 1911 to build an addition, which was to be of eight rooms and an assembly hall. The contract was let to La Place Bros. for $79,400. 

Part of this influx of families resulted when Vancouver Breweries Ltd. purchased the lot bound by 11th, 12th, Yew and Vine Streets from the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1909. From 1910 through the 1930s, some 80 to 100 men were employed at the brewery, and something of a company town sprang up in the area. Today, this site forms part of the new Arbutus Lands residential development.

There were no further major changes or additions in the school building until 1957. At this time, a contract was awarded to C.J. Oliver and Company for $176,890 for a modernization and addition program. The addition was largely in the form of a new auditorium-gymnasium, which was officially opened on Wednesday, October 23, 1957 by former Mayor of Vancouver, Charles E. Thompson.