NEW WATERFORD, N.S. — What was once the site of first days of school, graduations and sports championships has been reduced to a pile of rubble with the demolition of the former Mount Carmel school.
“That’s a lot of history going. It’s too bad,” said one of the many people driving past the demolition site on Wednesday’s morning.
“A landmark” is what another man observing the operations called the falling building.
“It touches the lives of a lot of people as did other schools.”
The former school was one of 17 the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board (Cape Breton Regional Centre for Education) decided to close in 2016 due to declining enrolment.
Lowell Cormier spent 53 years of his life at Mount Carmel, including as a student from Grades Primary to 12, as a teacher and then the school’s principal.
“There’s a tremendous amount of memories,” he said, while observing the demolition.
“I have a unique situation here because not only did I go to school here, but I played on a lot of sports teams and we won some provincial titles. There was a history of some fine teams and good competition, winning the town and winning the province.”
Add coach to his resumé and factor in his time with Mike Kennedy as founders of the Common School Basketball League that played inside the school gymnasium and there are even more memories to consider as the building came down.
“I always felt people thought it was a good school to come to and a good school to work at.”
A community group also created the nearby Gary MacDonald Recreation Complex that included three separate playgrounds, a walking track and a soccer field. Over a three-year period beginning in 1995 the community raised more than $300,000 for the complex.
“We had beautiful flowers and planters in the summer and we maintained it,” said Cormier.
The adjacent Carmel Centre is also expected to be demolished. At one time it was thought these locations would be the future site of a new health-care centre and long-term care home in the community. However, it was later announced those facilities will be constructed near Breton Education Centre.
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