We acknowledge that our school is located on the lands of the Mississaugas of the Anishinaabe, the Haundenosaunee Confederacy and the Wendat. The current school building is near the corner of Broadview Avenue and Dundas Street. The street now known as Broadview Avenue (formerly Mill Road) was part of a system of trails established by Indigenous peoples. In 1799, the "Mill Road" road was opened following an existing Indigenous trail. It was built to connect the bridge at Bay Road (now called Queen Street) to the mill at Pottery Road. The mill on Pottery Road was called "Don Mills." Later, the mill was called the "Mills at Todmorden." In 1884, when the City of Toronto annexed the area of Don Mount, and this section of "Mill Road" south of Danforth was renamed Broadview Avenue.
Dundas Street was created in 1795 by Surveyor General D.W. Smith, was also built along a well used indigenous path. In the late 1800s, archeologist David Boyle, of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), excavated the remains of Indigenous settlements and burial sites just north of the school along Broadview Avenue. The site had been disturbed during roadwork. The objects found ranged in date from 8000 BCE to "post-contact" times.
They included slate tools ( 8000 to 1000 BCE), Anishinaabe baskets (1000 BCE-1000 CE), and Haudenosaunee graves (1000-1650) and post contact trade goods (e.g., brass ornament). These objects included the oldest artifact ever found in Toronto which is now housed in the ROM collections, a slate projectile point with one barb broken. Many additional objects such as a bird amulet, axes, adzes, drills, scrapers, bone heads, an awl, and a pottery pipe were sold to the Dominion Museum in Ottawa.
The history of the school itself dates back to it's founding in 1889 when we were known as Hamilton Street School. Hamilton Street School's students began attending in March of 1890 with 492 pupils enrolled and eight rooms. On January 5, 1904, the building was destroyed by fire.
Children attended school in the Sunday school classrooms of neighbouring churches until the new school was built. On March 17, 1904 the Board purchased new site on Broadview Avenue. On Dec 1, 1904 the name changed to “Queen Alexandra School” after the wife of King Edward VII. Queen Alexandra School was officially opened on December 1, 1905 and was named for the Queen of England at that time - Queen Alexandra. The old building, on Broadview Avenue, was built in 1905 and demolished in 1956.
The school grounds were enlarged, and another building called the "Queen Alexandra Annex" was added in 1918. This was also the year that by October 16, the boards of health across the province ordered all public places, including schools closed due to the Spanish Flu pandemic. "The Annex" is still standing and is now part of Dundas Public School.
The "Queen Alexandra Annex" also housed Kâpapâmahchakwêw-Wandering Spirit School (formerly called First Nations School of Toronto) from 1989 until 2017 when they moved to their new site on Phin Avenue. The current "new" Queen Alexandra Middle School building was opened in 1957, and Queen Alexandra became a senior school. The corner stone contains a time capsule. The school celebrated their 100th Anniversary on April 29, 2006.
A new wing was added in 1969, and in 1978 part of the north wing was converted for use by the Superintendents' Area 4 Office staff. In 1980, Area 5 Offices also moved into the school and in that summer the school yard was landscaped. There were multiple grade arrangements for classes in the early stages of our history. In 1959, Queen Alexandra became a strictly senior school with only grades 7 and 8.
In 1969, we became a middle school with grades 6, 7, and 8. Queen A was the first and only middle school in the former Toronto Board of Education. When the Area 5 Offices closed, SEED North America's oldest public alternative secondary school moved from their YMHA site to the north wing of Queen Alexandra M.S. SEED is a small Grade 11 and 12 university level program that started in 1968 as a community-based summer program called (Summer of Experience, Exploration, and Discovery). On March 13, 2020 through a Ministerial Order , all publicly-funded schools in Ontario, including Queen Alexandra M.S., were physically closed to students during a pandemic as part of ongoing efforts to help slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). During the pandemic, classes continued remotely (online) until June 29, 2020. The pandemic continued for the next couple of years with students alternating between in-person and remote learning.
Principals of Queen Alexandra Public School
1895-1925 John Wallis
1926-1930 Frank M. Scott
1931-1951 Waddington Mason
1952-1955 Daniel Mewhort
1956-1958 James E. Laughlin
1959-1962 Lorne M. Shaw
1963-1968 Sydney J. Burchell
1969-1982 William Buddenhagen
1983-1988 Murray Anderson
1988-1992 Lorna Campbell
1993-1999 Michael Dowler
1999-2001 Linda Campbell
2001-2007 Hana Maire
2007-2010 Linda Perez / Dori Mould (acting)
2010-2012 Lisa Handiak
2013-2018 Emma Nichols
2018-2022 Mervi Salo
2023 - Ross Edgar
We are proud of our history and invite you to visit our school. The permanent historical display of writings, drawings, and photographs are on the second floor.
Queen Alexandra (1844 - 1925)
Born in Copenhagen, the second child of King Christian IX of Denmark. In 1866, she was betrothed to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). The wedding took place in St. George's Chapel, Windsor on March 10, 1863. At the time of her wedding she became the Princess of Wales until the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902. At this point she became Queen-Consort of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Nations (including Canada). They had 5 children, two sons and three daughters, King George V (reigned from 1910-1936). Queen Alexandra was the great grandmother to our current H.M.H. Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Alexandra died in 1925 at Sandringham in her eighty-first year, and is commemorated by an annual Alexandra Rose Day that raises money for hospitals. Queen Alexandra is resting at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, England.
WWI & WWII
Queen Alexandra Middle School honours our fallen graduates from WWI and WWII.
Plaques are displayed in our front lobby.
Certificate of Appreciation to staff and students at Hamilton Street School (former name of Queen Alexandra M.S.). It was awarded to students and staff for courage and wisdom shown during the fire that destroyed the school, January 5, 1904.
