Hi Alicia,

Someone mentioned to me the other day that there used to be a school in St. Catharines called Kerwin School. I looked it up but couldn’t find much about it.  Can you tell me where it was located?

Thank you,

Susan

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Great question Susan. The school you are referring to was called P.K. Kerwin Senior Elementary School.  It was named after a local lawyer Patrick .K. Kerwin who had donated the piece of land that the school was constructed on. Patrick Kerwin was born in Guelph in 1917 and was called to the bar in 1941.  His future wife, Mary Gertrude Doyle, was the reason Kerwin settled in St. Catharines where he worked as a lawyer for over 50 years, was a former president of the Lincoln County Law Association and also served as chairman of the separate school board.  Kerwin died in 1997 and was survived by his five children.

P.K. Kerwin School was built on the donated land which was located at 541 Lake Street and in 1967 was named in Kerwin’s honour. It initially served only grades seven and eight students.  After only one year, the school increased in enrollment and reputation. Grades nine and ten were later added, and in 1984, grade 11 classes were offered under the name of Denis Morris Catholic High School, Kerwin Campus.

In September 1985 the school was re-christened as Holy Cross Secondary School. The facility offered grade twelve classes as well, while grades seven and eight had been eliminated. In 1993, due to overcrowding, Holy Cross relocated to the former Grantham High School building, which was shut down by the District School Board of Niagara that same year due to declining enrollment. The former Holy Cross building would become St. Francis Catholic Secondary School.

Although there is no longer a P.K. Kerwin School in St. Catharines, the library at the current Holy Cross Secondary School still bears the name in honour of Patrick Kerwin.