Education_Panels_FNL The 1870s brought radical changes within the provincial school system. In addition to providing for both free and compulsory primary education, the School Reform Bill of 1871 made property assessment mandatory, greatly increasing funds for education. Women's equality made strides and influenced the Cobourg Grammar School to become co-educational (despite the resignation of its headmaster to start Barron's School for Boys in Cobourg). But not long after, Cobourg's economic fortunes declined so much that by 1892 most of the private schools, and Victoria College itself, had left. Meanwhile, large farm families had necessitated the multitude of one/two room school houses seen in this 1871 map. Through the 1900s education in the whole Western World, not just Cobourg, faced the opposing pressures of demand for widespread higher education and declining birth rates. On the one hand, high school education went from being the exception to being the law. Expansion lasted through the 20th century. Cobourg Collegiate Institute, built in 1901 and expanded in 1939 and 1963, was joined by CDCI East in 1960 and St. Mary's Separate High School in 1985 (with a new building in 1998). On the other hand, family size began to shrink with the end of the post World War II Baby Boom. Students were soon being bussed to regional schools. (Earlier ad hoc bussing had existed for high school students, such as the black and grey hearse used to transport Harwood students to CCI!) Then elementary schools were consolidated, and more recently CCI West was closed. With the aging of our Canadian population, that building may well be turned into a retirement home as the Thomas Gillbard Elementary School has been. External Influences at Work Northumberland County Public Schools 2017 Elementary Secondary County Boundary Northumberland County Public Schools 1871 Rural Elementary Schools County Boundary Note: Locations approximate and do not include any town nor village schools (not in 1871 atlas). Former Thomas Gillbard Elementary School