Laurentian High School

The sod was turned by Claude Biseau, former President of Carleton University on September 11, 1956. The Mayor of Ottawa from 1957 to 1960, George H. Nelms, placed the granite cornerstone on June 24, 1957.[3] When the school opened in September 1958, 600 students enrolled, which was twice the number that had been expected. Mr. W.B. Wallen was LHS' first principal. The LHS students reduced overcrowding at Nepean High School (Ottawa) and Fisher Park High School. Fisher High's enrolment dropped from 1,900 to 1,439 students.[4]

The LHS motto, by wisdom and by courage was chosen. The LHS yearbook, initially known as Laurentian Review was renamed the Laureate.

Construction continued for the entire first year of the school. Over time, Laurentian expanded twice, bringing its capacity to 1,143 students. By 1957, a new wing added 23 classes and an auditorium seating 750. The R. D. Campbell stadium, was named after the former Director of Athletics at Glebe Collegiate was constructed in 1958. LHS, which won the intermediate cross country race at Britannia in 1956, hosted 5000 at an interscholastic track meet in 1958. On May 30, 1959 the Ottawa Valley Invitational Track Meet held at R.D. Campbell Stadium attracted competitors from Deep River to Cornwall.[5]

In 1958, LHS symphonic band came in second at the Ottawa Music Festival and participated in its first exchange visit to Knowlton, Quebec.

Student activities included student parliament, art, history, library, curling, radio, stamp & coin collecting. The Laurentian Arts Guild produced musicals with the assistance of the drama and musical club while art students furnished backdrops.

Laurentian's students came from two distinct areas: to the west, the middle-class neighbourhoods of Bel-Air Heights and Copeland Park, bounded by the Queensway, Woodroffe Ave, Baseline Rd and Clyde Ave; and to the north and east, the blue-collar and social housing neighbourhoods of Carlington: Caldwell, Morrisset, Trenton and surrounding streets. As the thousand-odd houses in the Bel-Air Park and Bel-Air Heights and Copeland Park neighbourhoods had been built by Robert Campeau within the space of about five years from approximately 1957 through 1962, the population of children at first steadily increased as the young couples bought houses and had children, then steadily declined as the initial home-buyers' children graduated.

LHS had its first Grade 13 class in 1961 out of an enrollment of 728. Marion B Daley, Miss Rough Riders 1960, was a student at LHS. The first 182 LHS graduates were advised during the first commencement exercises in November 1961 to "Get going, get hitched and get lost". Harry Pullen, speaker at the Commencement exercised recommended that graduates should get going and put to use the things they were taught in high school. They should get hitched to something which would make them strain to the utmost, something that would be challenging. He also advised the graduates to get lost in some cause and work for their fellow men.[6]

In August 1962, the R.D. Campbell stadium hosted the finals of the Cantalla Trophy invitational knockout competition, which brought together soccer clubs from Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston and North Bay.[7]

LHS engaged Mr. Henry Bonnenberg as music director. He had recently moved to Ottawa from the Netherlands, where he played with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Within four years at Laurentian, he had developed an award-winning, symphonic band. It was classified a "symphonic band" because it used extensive woodwinds such as flutes, clarinets, oboes and bassoons to replicate the sound of violins and cellos. During the 1960s, sometimes known as the "Golden Age of popular music," Laurentian was filled with music and drama. Memories of Vienna, one of the many concerts staged during this decade, was commended by Elisabeth Strauss, matriarch of the Strauss musical dynasty of Vienna. The Laurentian Symphonic Band travelled extensively to perform during the 1960s and 1970s, occasionally entertaining Canadian Servicemen in Europe. LHS toured Europe for 26 days in 1969 playing on Radio Nederlands and in the bandshell where the "Blue Danube" was first performed. LHS had the first high school band to perform in the Opera of the National Arts Centre. Following his retirement from LHS in 1979, Mr. Bonnenberg continued to teach music at the University of Ottawa until just before his death in 1995.

In October 1965 – The Junior Department of the Sunday School at Bethany Baptist Church moved to Laurentian High School which was across the road from the church building at that time.[8]

During the late 1960s and early '70s the Ottawa School Board experimented at LHS with extended freedom for students, e.g., allowing optional attendance at class and exemption from exams if they maintained consistently high grades.

Mr. Stephen Glavin became Principal on June 8, 1970. In the mid 1970s, LHS had an enrollment of 1700 students while Nepean High School and Glebe Collegiate Institute were suffering declining enrollment. By 1984, 300 students from the LHS catchment zone were on loan to other schools. Mr. Ross, a former LHS teacher, served as principal in the mid 1980s.

In the 1990s Laurentian celebrated its multicultural diversity with potluck dinners. These events brought various cultures together, through their food. LHS had a wide array of clubs, organisations and groups. These included Junior and Senior Band, Reach for the Top, school newspaper, and the Laurentian Arts Guild.

The school served as the set of a television series, Family Biz, which began filming on May 5, 2008.[10] A total of twenty-six 30-minute episodes were filmed. The series was co-produced by three organizations: Muse Entertainment (a Montreal film company), Summit Crescent Productions and Breakout Films. The series debuted in Spring of 2009 on YTV.[11][12]

In July 2009 the school site was turned over the Ottawa's newly formed emergency response squad for disaster simulation manoeuvres, Tactical unit (SWAT).[13]

LHS buildings and 15.5 acre property were offered for sale in 2007. The City of Ottawa was interested in keeping this community landmark in public hands, but the School Board was unwilling to compromise on the sale price. The Board subsequently sold the school on July 18, 2007 to $21.26 million to Clyde Baseline Developments Inc., a subsidiary of SmartCentres, a Toronto-based real-estate developer that specializes in big-box developments anchored by Wal-Mart stores. After community consultation and rezoning the LHS facilities were demolished in 2009. The brownfields were remediated including clean up of asbestos and heating oil spills in exchange for incentives of $1.8 million of property tax rebates.[14] The property was converted to $60-million mixed-use development, known as Laurentian Place. The site features two- and three-storey buildings containing stores, offices, and a big-box Walmart superstore opened on the location in 2011.