School Name History

Location

2975 Bradner Road, Abbotsford, BC

Opened

1890; 1900 moved to present location on Bradner Road

The School

Originally, Aberdeen students met in a private home until 1890 when a one-room split cedar shack, to be used as the school, was built on a site near the Aberdeen cemetery. Hugh Currie had donated the properties for both the school and the cemetery.   

In 1900, the school was moved to its current location on the corner of Fraser Highway and Bradner Road. At that time, Bradner Road was named Aberdeen Road. Pioneer Wilfred Macey donated the land for the current site.  One source says there were two buildings at first. One, somewhere on the land where the present building sits, was for the upper grades. The building for the primary grades was kitty-corner from the other buildings at Caribou Road (Bradner Road) and Old Yale Road (Fraser Highway).

Shortly after the move, a two-storey structure was built to accommodate the seventy students. Primary students (Grades 1-4) were on the bottom floor and intermediate students (Grades 5-8) were on the top floor. A wood stove heated the school until electricity was added in 1942. There was no indoor bathroom until the new school was built in 1956. 

In 1955, while classes were in session, a fire broke out and the two teachers, Evelyn Davis and Julia Nelson, safely evacuated the sixty students before the school was completely gutted. They were acclaimed as heroes due to their actions.

Students were able to continue their education at the Aberdeen Community Hall where crews-built partitions to separate the classrooms.  The new school, which featured indoor plumbing, was ready the following school year.

The school has continued to grow, but it is no longer a rural community. Currently, more than half the students are living in an urban environment.

Origin of the Name

The first school in the area was built on farmland donated by Hugh Currie. He named the school Aberdeen in recognition of the many Scottish immigrants who settled in the area. Aberdeen is the third largest city in Scotland. Its name comes from the Gaelic Obar Dheathain or Aberdon. Aberdon means “at the mouth of the Don River.” In 1900 the school was moved to a new location on the corner of the Fraser Highway and Bradner Road. Usually, schools are named for the community, but, in this case, the area around the school became known as Aberdeen after the name of the school.