School Name History

Location

5730 Riverside Road, Abbotsford, BC

Opened

1900, converted farmhouse on St. Olaf Street; 1903, moved to new building called Ridgedale School on Riverside Road; 1914, moved to new building called Matsqui Elementary on new site on Riverside Road; 2004, old building demolished and new Matsqui Elementary built on the same site.

The School

In 1900, Thomas Aish donated an empty house on the corner of St. Olaf and Wallace Streets for use as the first school in Matsqui. There were fifteen students in the first year. The farmhouse had two rooms downstairs and a small barn where students could stable their horses. The only way to get to school in those days was to walk or ride a horse. Students sat in handmade double wooden desks. There were few other amenities - a teacher’s desk, a globe, some maps, and a blackboard. A kind student called Everett Page brought a stool from home for the teacher to sit on. The rooms were heated by wood burning stoves.

In 1903, the pupils moved to a larger school called Ridgedale, which was built on Riverside Road. One year later a second building went up and the first building became the first high school.

In 1914, the first school on a new site on Riverside Road was built for grades Kindergarten to five. It originally had hot air central heating, but that didn’t work well, so wood burning stoves were installed in each classroom. Several years later, a hot water central heating system was installed. Because there was no running water or indoor plumbing, the students used outhouses, as they had in the previous schools. Water was hauled to the school in milk cans until a water system was installed in 1929. In 1926, a new Matsqui High School was built for grades six to nine next to the elementary school, but the new high school burned down in 1941. Construction on a new building began right away. It was named Matsqui Superior School.

There was no gym in either school so, until 1962, gym classes were held in the Matsqui Community Hall. That year a gymnasium connecting the elementary school and high school buildings was constructed.

As the years passed, the foundations and structure of the elementary school became a concern. In 2004, the old building was demolished and a new elementary school was built. One hundred thirty students moved into the new building.

Origin of the Name

The word Mathxwí comes from Halq’eméylem, the language of the Sto:lo people. Thousands of years before people from Europe arrived, First Nations people lived in the Fraser Valley. The Matsqui or Mathxwí people were a group of the Sto:lo people. Their traditional lands stretched from Crescent Island in the Fraser River to Sumas Mountain and south to the Nooksack River in Washington. The word Matsqui may come from the Halq'eméylem word Mathxwí, a root plant that grew in the marshes that used to be found in the Matsqui Prairie area. The word Mathxwí is translated by one source as “easy travelling” or "easy portage,” suggesting that the flat marshy lands offered easy passage. Another source says the word comes from a Halq’eméylem word meaning “a stretch of higher ground.” The name of the area was given to the school that was built in Matsqui Village in 1900. In 2021, the school board voted to rename Matsqui Elementary, Mathxwí Elementary to reflect its historical link to the First Nations people.